Say It Isn't So: Was Dish Network's Lawsuit Dismissal Linked To MAJOR Biden-Harris Campaign Contribution?

This move comes after Charlie Ergen, the founder of Dish Network, and his wife donated over $113,000 to the Biden-Harris reelection campaign. Following this donation, the Biden administration granted Dish Network a $50 million grant.

The New York Post reported that the DOJ's decision came months after Ergen's donation to the Biden campaign. Ergen, a former professional poker player who co-founded Dish Network in 1980, has been battling the federal fraud claim for several years.

In December, shortly after the campaign donation, Dish Network secured a $50 million grant to expand its 5G coverage nationwide. The company referred to this as the "largest award" of its kind, made possible through the CHIPS and Science Act.

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Bennett Ross, the lead attorney in the fraud case against Dish Network, revealed that two days after the $50 million grant was awarded to Dish, DOJ attorneys intervened to halt the $3.3 billion lawsuit. Ross, who represents Vermont Telephone, the company that initiated the fraud case against Dish Network, stated that the DOJ lawyers attempted to coerce Vermont Telephone "into an unethical settlement" and sought to have the case dismissed.

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Ross expressed his concerns in a letter to the DOJ on February 8th, stating, "[I]t appears that the effect — if not the purpose — of the DOJ’s rush to seek dismissal of this case is to protect Mr. Ergen from being questioned under oath." He further noted that Ergen, his wife, and DISH’s Political Action Committee collectively contributed over $5 million to Democratic candidates and causes between 2008 and 2022.

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Ross also criticized the DOJ's actions, stating, "With the upcoming election, this case looks like just the latest example of the DOJ’s two-tiered justice system under which the well-heeled, politically connected are treated one way, while everyone else is treated differently."

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The motion to officially dismiss the case was filed on March 8 by senior DC US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly and is still pending. The New York Post's review of court filings revealed that the DOJ's Civil Division was opposed to the case being dismissed during 2022 and 2023.

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Ross told The Post, “As far as we are aware, relators have filed approximately 4,000 [similar] actions under the False Claims Act since 2018, and the DOJ moved for dismissal in approximately 65 of those cases, which is less than two percent.” He added that in cases where the DOJ sought dismissal, it was generally due to a fatal defect in the case, which he asserts is not the case with Vermont Telephone’s claims against DISH.

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The conflict between Dish Network and Vermont Telephone began in 2015 when Dish purchased $13.3 billion in wireless license bids from a Federal Communications Commission auction intended to aid "very small businesses." With the assistance of asset management giant BlackRock, Dish acquired 702 of the 1,600 wireless licenses.

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This acquisition enabled Dish to bid on $3.3 billion of the licenses in the Boston, New York, and Chicago areas before the company even began offering cell phone service. Ross argued, “The Defendants short-changed the government $3.3 billion, an amount that remains unpaid to this day. They also corrupted a program designed to benefit real small businesses, distorted the FCC auction process, and thwarted the deployment of wireless spectrum for the benefit of the public. The Defendants should be held accountable.”

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Sources familiar with Ergen's relationship with the Biden administration told the Post that Ergen is “very close to the White House” and often boasts about his connection there. In response to the report, Jeff Blum, EchoStar's executive vice president of external and government affairs, stated that the “fraud claim has always been frivolous, and the DOJ was absolutely justified in moving to dismiss it.”