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American Morning
Minding Your Business: AT&T Faces Do Not Call Fines
Aired November 04, 2003 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The first ever do-not-call fines are being handed out. A corporate giant is the target of this.
Andy Serwer is out. Christine Romans is not. She's "Minding Your Business."
Do not call means?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Do not call. Absolutely.
AT&T proposed by the FCC for a $780,000 fine for violating do- not-call requests from its customers -- 78 different occasions. That's where you get the $780,000, because there's a $10,000 fine every time this happens. Twenty-nine different people who said, listen, AT&T don't call me anymore. And the FCC says that those people kept calling.
Now, AT&T says it is cooperating with the FCC, but it thinks in the end there will not be 78 instances of do not call.
HEMMER: It will be what? Seven or eight or nine?
ROMANS: It doesn't say how many, but $780,000. That's a lot of money. This shows they mean business about this.
HEMMER: Does AT&T think that these numbers just slipped through?
ROMANS: Well, some of these actually are from before the October registry came into effect. This was sort of like, you know, folks said AT&T don't call me, and AT&T kept calling, according to the FCC. But the FCC says a lot of people are taking this do not call very, very seriously. So, everyone, keep a little notebook by your telephone and write down when somebody calls you when you've told them not to.
HEMMER: Twenty-nine ticked-off people -- that, or they're looking for cash, either way.
ROMANS: Well, that's a lot of cash.
HEMMER: Hey, on the scandal watch, maybe an indictment today. What's happening?
ROMANS: Yes, Richard Scrushy, the company is HealthSouth. It's a huge medical company, an accounting fraud -- $3 billion in accounting fraud is alleged here. Already you've seen 15 former executives of this company, including five former CFOs, chief financial officers, plead guilty. A lot of people have been watching to see when Scrushy was going to be indicted. It looks like it's going to come down here today.
This is one of those cases of propping up the stock, you know, completely making up the financials to prop up the stock for personal gain for the people who were involved in the company and the shareholders. This is a very important one for the Justice Department to bring this one out.
HEMMER: Yes, Christine, thanks. Good to have you here today.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired November 4, 2003 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The first ever do-not-call fines are being handed out. A corporate giant is the target of this.
Andy Serwer is out. Christine Romans is not. She's "Minding Your Business."
Do not call means?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Do not call. Absolutely.
AT&T proposed by the FCC for a $780,000 fine for violating do- not-call requests from its customers -- 78 different occasions. That's where you get the $780,000, because there's a $10,000 fine every time this happens. Twenty-nine different people who said, listen, AT&T don't call me anymore. And the FCC says that those people kept calling.
Now, AT&T says it is cooperating with the FCC, but it thinks in the end there will not be 78 instances of do not call.
HEMMER: It will be what? Seven or eight or nine?
ROMANS: It doesn't say how many, but $780,000. That's a lot of money. This shows they mean business about this.
HEMMER: Does AT&T think that these numbers just slipped through?
ROMANS: Well, some of these actually are from before the October registry came into effect. This was sort of like, you know, folks said AT&T don't call me, and AT&T kept calling, according to the FCC. But the FCC says a lot of people are taking this do not call very, very seriously. So, everyone, keep a little notebook by your telephone and write down when somebody calls you when you've told them not to.
HEMMER: Twenty-nine ticked-off people -- that, or they're looking for cash, either way.
ROMANS: Well, that's a lot of cash.
HEMMER: Hey, on the scandal watch, maybe an indictment today. What's happening?
ROMANS: Yes, Richard Scrushy, the company is HealthSouth. It's a huge medical company, an accounting fraud -- $3 billion in accounting fraud is alleged here. Already you've seen 15 former executives of this company, including five former CFOs, chief financial officers, plead guilty. A lot of people have been watching to see when Scrushy was going to be indicted. It looks like it's going to come down here today.
This is one of those cases of propping up the stock, you know, completely making up the financials to prop up the stock for personal gain for the people who were involved in the company and the shareholders. This is a very important one for the Justice Department to bring this one out.
HEMMER: Yes, Christine, thanks. Good to have you here today.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
