dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

>>23919537

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

>>23919589

One America News Network

An investigative report by Reuters in 2021 revealed that AT&T played a key role in creating, funding and sustaining One America News Network (OAN), a far-right TV network known for promoting conspiracy theories.[197] According to 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant, 90% of OAN's revenue came from AT&T. According to OAN founder Robert Herring Sr., AT&T wanted to create a conservative network to compete with Fox News. Court documents showed OAN promised to "cast a positive light" on AT&T during newscasts. AT&T denied the allegations.[198][199] NAACP president Derrick Johnson and comedian John Oliver criticized AT&T for funding OAN.[200][201]

Leaking data to Wall Street

In March 2021 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit against AT&T and three of its executives for violating the Fair Disclosure Rule against making selective disclosures of "material nonpublic information" to analysts and others. The SEC alleged that beginning in early 2016 these executives leaked key information to Wall Street analysts in order to manipulate revenue forecasts for the company.[202]

In December 2022, without acknowledging any guilt, AT&T agreed to pay $6.25 million in fines to settle the lawsuit. The individual executives were also on the hook for $25,000 each.[202][203]