Bribery to influence legislation
In October 2022, AT&T agreed to pay a $23 million fine to resolve a federal criminal investigation into the company's efforts to unlawfully influence former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael J. Madigan.[204] Under a deferred prosecution with the US Department of Justice, AT&T admitted that it arranged for payments to an ally of Madigan in order to influence Madigan's vote in 2017 on legislation that would eliminate AT&T's so-called "Carrier of Last Resort" obligation to provide landline telephone service to all Illinois residents, which was expected to save the company millions of dollars.[204] Madigan also helped to defeat an amendment to a bill that became law in 2018 regarding fees for small cell tower attachments that would have been harmful to AT&T's interests.[205] Former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza, who is set to go on trial in September 2024 for the alleged bribery scheme, described AT&T's quid pro quo relationship with Madigan in an email to an AT&T employee as "the friends and family plan."[205]
2024 outage
On February 22, 2024, cellular service was disrupted across the United States with "millions" unable to connect to the cellular network.[206] Municipalities reported that AT&T customers were unable to place calls to emergency services, even when using their phone's SOS capability.[207] The blackout prompted the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to launch investigations into the possibility of a cyber attack being the cause of the blackout.[208] AT&T later claimed that the cause was instead a poorly timed server update.[209] Users were later compensated credit as a result of the outage.[210] In March, the FCC opened an investigation into the outage.[206]
2024 Data Breach Fine
On September 18, 2024, AT&T was fined $13 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following a major data breach that exposed millions of customers' personal information. The FTC found that AT&T failed to implement adequate cybersecurity measures and did not promptly notify affected individuals. As part of the settlement, AT&T is required to enhance its data protection practices and provide identity theft protection to those impacted.[211]
John T. Stankey(born 1962) is an American businessman who is the chairman and CEO of AT&T. He previously was AT&T's president and COO and before that CEO of WarnerMedia.[1][2][3] He assumed the CEO role of AT&T in July 2020, succeeding Randall L. Stephenson.[4]
Early life and education
Stankey was raised in Los Angeles, the youngest of three children.[5] His father was an insurance underwriter and his mother a housewife.[5]
Stankey received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in finance fromLoyola Marymount Universityin Los Angeles in 1985.[6][7] He received a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1991.[5][4]
Career
In 1985, Stankey took an entry-level position with Pacific Bell,[2][5][8] which was acquired by SBC Communications in 1996.[9] He went on to serve as the executive vice president of industry markets beginning in 1998, and became the executive president of industry markets in 2000.[8] In 2001, he became the president and CEO of SBC Southwest.[8]
Stankey served as CIO of the "new AT&T" after the merger of SBC with AT&T Corporation finalized in 2005.[10] He was the senior executive vice president and CTO for AT&T from 2008 to 2012. In January 2012, he became the CSO and group president of AT&T.[8]
In 2018,[11] Stankey was named CEO of WarnerMedia,[12] which owned various media and film corporations, including Warner Bros., HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, and CNN.[13] On October 1, 2019, he became president and COO of AT&T, while continuing to serve as the CEO of WarnerMedia.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stankey