EXCERPTS:
In all, Gabelli-backed companies won 96 licenses in eight auctions. Defending against the suit's allegation that some were sham bidders, the Gabelli legal team said in court papers that FCC rules were "complex, ambiguous and continually evolving" and that the FCC reviewed and approved each application. Gabelli lawyers have sued the FCC seeking internal documents to bolster the point.
Some bidders Mr. Gabelli or affiliates of his backed didn't have control over their own bank accounts, and some principals didn't even have authority to write checks, court papers show. One bidder in the sale of radio spectrum told the court she didn't know what spectrum was.
Another, Mr. Tucker, testified that he thought he was a "passive investor" in a bidding entity, even though he was listed in its application to the FCC as a director and an owner. Ms. Cadorin, listed as president of a bidding company, testified that she wasn't aware whether that company had a budget, employees or customers. "It was always my hope that at one point I would be more involved," she said.
Ms. Kane, the former aerobics instructor, certified to the FCC that she had full control, "acting alone, to manage the business and affairs" of Aer Force, the partnership that bid at the auction. She used her home address and phone number as its address. Ms. Kane's husband, Theodore Kane, who like Mr. Gabelli is a money manager in Rye, N.Y., also was an investor in the bidding company.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05361/628545.stm
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