Rockville company linked to alleged fraud
Monday, July 20, 2009
Business partnered with Florida executives charged in conspiracy
by Kevin James Shay | Staff Writer
Viable, a Rockville company that provides services to deaf people and is the subject of a federal investigation, partnered this year with a Florida company whose owners were recently arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud the federal government.
In addition, an affidavit by an FBI agent filed in a federal court in Florida refers to a Rockville company with a background strikingly similar to that of Viable. The agent said a former employee of the Rockville business told investigators that the company regularly billed for calls that were not properly interpreted.
Yosbel Buscaron and Lazaro Fernandez, co-owners of Innovative Communication Services for the Deaf, a Miami Lakes, Fla., sign language interpreting company that began a partnership with Viable this year, were arrested in late June for conspiracy to defraud the government, according to court documents.
Buscaron has been released on bond and has not been formally indicted, his attorney, Marcia J. Silvers of Miami, said Monday. Fernandez's attorney could not be reached Monday.
The affidavit by FBI special agent Joseph P. Gordon details a "company 2" as announcing in a press release on Feb. 9 a partnership with ICSDeaf "to provide a Spanish language capability" for video relay services, which allows people with hearing disabilities to communicate online using interpreters and Web cameras.
Viable's Web site has a press release dated Feb. 9 that announces the ICSDeaf partnership and quotes Buscaron as saying that ICSDeaf and Viable "share much in common; we both are young, minority-owned companies with a deep passion and commitment to communication access and community empowerment."
The affidavit also identifies "company 2" as being established in 2005, headquartered in Rockville and operating or subcontracting call centers in Rockville, Towson, Baltimore, Austin, Texas, and other cities. Viable was formed in 2005 and has call centers in those cities, according to the company's Web site.
Gordon said an interpreter hired by this company in 2006 in Rockville, who worked there until May 2007, told investigators that calls were made there that were not being interpreted. Some callers told this interpreter that they were friends of one of the company's owners, and one said he was paid $20 an hour to make the "run calls," Gordon said. An hourlong video relay call, based on current government reimbursement rates, would be billed to a fund overseen by the Federal Communications Commission and administered by a nonprofit at the rate of $403.80, Gordon said.
Glenn Lockhart, a Viable spokesman, said in a recent e-mail that federal investigators visited the company's headquarters in June, and the company is "cooperating fully" with investigators. He could not be reached on Monday.
Lockhart previously referred specific questions to company attorney Timothy Sullivan, who did not return calls and e-mails last week and this week seeking further comment. Sullivan is a partner in the Greenbelt law firm Brennan Sullivan and McKenna, with areas of practice that include white-collar crimes, federal trials, ethics and professional responsibility.
"Regardless, our service has remained 24/7 without downtime," Lockhart said in the previous e-mail. "We are still providing top-notch video relay services to deaf and hard of hearing individuals who rely on our technologies for their telephone calls to family, businesses and everyone else important in their lives."
Ian McCaleb, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said Monday he could neither confirm nor deny that Viable was under investigation. He also declined to identify "company 2" in Gordon's affidavit.
Viable's offerings include videoconferencing hardware and software, and video-based and on-site interpreting services. The business has grown from a handful of employees to more than 240, with most workers hearing-impaired. Last year, Viable was named one of The Gazette of Politics and Business' Exceptional 53 businesses and nonprofits.
