May 12, 2015

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced that the California Department of Justice, along with the Attorneys General of the other 49 States and the District of Columbia, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Communications Commission, reached settlements with Sprint Corporation and Cellco Partnership (d/b/a Verizon Wireless) to resolve allegations that Sprint and Verizon placed charges for third-party services on consumers’ mobile telephone bills that were not authorized by the consumers, a practice known as “mobile cramming.” The state of California will receive $549,731.29 in the Sprint settlement, and $733,298.41 in the Verizon settlement. In total, Sprint will pay $68 million and Verizon will pay $90 million the bulk of which will go to consumers who were victims of cramming. Sprint and Verizon are the third and fourth mobile telephone providers to enter into a nationwide settlement to resolve allegations regarding cramming. In December 2014, Attorney General Harris reached a $90 million settlement with T-Mobile and a $105 million settlement with AT&T in October of 2014. CA