More guilty pleas entered in Rockville deaf-services case
Company at center of fraud conspiracy, prosecutors say
More defendants in a multistate federal case involving executives of Rockville deaf services company Viable pleaded guilty this week to conspiring to defraud a Federal Communications Commission program that helps the deaf, authorities said.
So far, 11 of the 26 people who were charged in the case in November have entered guilty pleas.
Pleading guilty in federal court in Trenton, N.J., to conspiracy to commit mail fraud Tuesday were Yosbel Buscaron and Lazaro Fernandez, co-owners of Innovative Communication Services for the Deaf in Florida, and Natan Zfati, a former video interpreter for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Interpreting Services in New York. They face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and are to be sentenced June 29.
Prosecutors say the defendants generated or processed from $2.5 million to $7 million in fraudulent billings to the FCC program that helps people with hearing disabilities make phone calls using interpreters and online cameras.
Last week, four other defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Kim E. Hawkins, an owner of Master Communications in Nevada, Mascom LLC in Texas and KL Communications in Arizona; Larry Berke, a KL partner; Alfia Iskandarova, a former interpreter for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Interpreting Services; and Robert Z. Rubeck of Surprise, Ariz., are scheduled to be sentenced June 28.
Last month, Joshua Finkle and Irma Azrelyant, co-owners of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Interpreting Services, pleaded guilty to mail fraud conspiracy and are to be sentenced June 29.
In January, Anthony Mowl, 25, former assistant vice president of business development for Viable, and Donald Tropp, 25, former Viable human resources manager, pleaded guilty to the same charges.They are scheduled to be sentenced June 28.
That leaves 15 defendants who still face trial. Those include Viable president John T.C. Yeh and a brother, vice president of corporate strategy Joseph Yeh. The Yehs, who are charged with conspiracy to defraud the government and other crimes, are set to be tried May 24 in New Jersey.
Viable is the central company in the alleged scheme, authorities said. In court documents, Viable is directly linked through business arrangements to five of the six other companies involved.