- Colorado awarded $103 million of BEAD funds to Maverix Broadband
- Fierce Network reported on Sept. 21, that the Colorado Broadband Office said it was rescinding the award after receiving whistleblower reports
- Now, Maverix is defending itself against those claims
Maverix Broadband, a small Colorado broadband provider, accused by state officials of misusing millions in grant funding defended itself, arguing it has submitted reams of paperwork documenting how the money was spent.
Fierce Network reported on Sept. 21, that the Colorado Broadband Office said it was rescinding Maverix' $103 million-award after receiving whistleblower reports.
The Colorado Sun was the first to report on Maverix Broadband’s response to the allegations from the Colorado Broadband Office. Maverix did not immediately respond to Fierce Network’s request for comment.
Maverix CEO David Lindauer told the Sun that though the company has spent the past several months providing evidence of its use of funds, it “honestly feels like they read almost none” of what was submitted.”
Maverix won $103.13 million in BEAD funding to cover 10,232 locations across the state, according to the state’s final proposal. The awards represent nearly a quarter (24.5%) of the $420.6 million in total BEAD funding allocated by the state of Colorado.
But earlier this week, the Colorado Broadband Office said an investigation into whistleblower complaints yielded evidence of financial mismanagement and misuse of funds. It froze payments to the company, moved to terminate Maverix’s six active grants and said it was seeking to recover millions that had already been disbursed from the federal Capital Projects Fund and three state High Cost Support Mechanism grants.
The matter was referred to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The Colorado Sun’s attempts to verify Maverix’s invoices with vendors named in the paperwork were unsuccessful.
Colorado's Broadband Office said it plans to open a competitive rebid process for the 10,000+ locations previously awarded to Maverix.
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