Deaf person of the year 2008, John T.C. Yeh, charged with fraud

From The Washington Post:

John T.C. Yeh (pictured) was a hero and an inspiration. He was named 2008 Deaf Person of the Year by Deaf Life magazine. And Gallaudet University, his alma mater, once honored him as Entrepreneur of the Year.

Now federal prosecutors call Yeh something else: thief.

Yeh founded Rockville-based Viable Communications, a company that enables deaf people to make telephone calls to relatives, friends, repair companies or even pizza delivery joints. Yeh used that business, prosecutors say, to participate in a years-long scam that stole millions of federal dollars intended to help the deaf.

To many in the deaf community, it is a betrayal.

"I personally felt a bit of pain when I learned about [John] Yeh's involvement in this," said Jamie Berke, a longtime acquaintance of Yeh's and a contributing expert on deafness to About.com, an online reference site. "For years, the deaf community has looked to him as an example of a successful deaf entrepreneur. We need our role models in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, so it hurts when something like this happens to one of our role models."

Yeh, 62, of Potomac, is one of 26 people, including his brother Joseph, who are charged in federal court in New Jersey with gaming the Americans With Disabilities Act. Among other things, the law mandates that deaf people be given the tools they need to make phone calls. Companies that provide that service -- known as the Telecommunications Relay Service -- are reimbursed by the government.

It works in various ways. In traditional text-to-voice mode, for instance, the relay center acts as a go-between for a deaf person using a special text telephone and a hearing person using a standard voice phone. Or a deaf person can contact a company such as Viable by video phone. A sign language interpreter places the call and translates a conversation between the deaf caller and a hearing person on the other end.

Federal authorities say an extensive FBI investigation that spanned 10 states showed that Viable and six other businesses nationwide, five of which are independently owned call centers that did contract work for Viable, bilked the government by ginning up bogus calls. Officials did not say precisely how much they think was stolen, but they said it is in the "tens of millions."

Viable took legitimate calls. But Yeh also paid friends to use his company to link to recordings of radio programs, even podcasts of someone reading a novel, prosecutors allege. Some calls were quick; others dragged on. Often, no one interpreted, authorities say.

"That people would prey upon the program for their own greed is absolutely inexcusable," said Lanny A. Breuer, chief of the Justice Department's criminal division.

Yeh, who has pleaded not guilty, declined through his daughter to be interviewed for this article and did not respond to a message left at his home.

Paul Kemp, an attorney for Yeh, said, the defense is still gathering information related to the case. "John has served the deaf community for many years in a huge and innovative way," Kemp said. "We hope to be able to explain any billing problems, and if there are irregularities, John will take responsibility for whatever the evidence shows."

Robert Mason, a deaf blogger who met Yeh through Gallaudet, is among those who said the charges seem out of character. Yeh has supported the university, Mason said, even inviting students to his home. "I personally found John Yeh to be a person of integrity and compassion and sincerity," he said. "Yeh always had been an ardent supporter of deaf people to be successful in their own right."

Yeh's journey from disabled immigrant to successful businessman has become a familiar story in the deaf community. One of six children, he was born in Taiwan in 1947, a time when disabled children were shunned. His parents moved to Brazil, hoping opportunities would open up for Yeh and his deaf sister. In search of still better schooling, the family came to the United States.

Yeh was 15 when he enrolled at Kendall School for the Deaf in the District. He started in classes with students who were five or six years younger, and he has described how he felt out of place, even embarrassed. Determined to make quick progress, he carried around a Chinese-English dictionary and studied it every chance he got.

Yeh went on to receive a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Gallaudet University, where he met his wife, Mary, with whom he has three grown children. Dreams of becoming a math teacher faded after he couldn't get a job. He enrolled at the University of Maryland and became the only deaf student in the computer science master's program. He received his degree in 1973, the same year he became a U.S. citizen.

In a business world where many deaf people describe a struggle for acceptance, Yeh forged his own path. Along with his brothers, James, Jeffry and Joseph, he founded the computer company Integrated Microcomputer Systems in 1979. The company, which prided itself on hiring deaf employees, thrived.

"I was deeply touched by his story," said Matthew S. Moore, publisher of Deaf Life. "Mr. Yeh is not only deaf, but Asian American, and so he has had to deal with both audism and racism. I felt that he triumphed over this double-whammy of prejudice by succeeding in a technology-based enterprise, it appeared, spectacularly."

Yeh explained it this way in a 1989 Washington Post article: "It is a great joy for me to be able to turn the negative energy of my early frustrations into this positive contribution."

In 1996, the brothers sold Integrated Microcomputer Systems to Arlington County-based CACI International. In 2005, Viable Communications was launched. The company's Web site says, "Our Philosophy: We believe in giving back."

Diane Plassey Gutierrez, who met Yeh at Gallaudet in the early 1970s, was thrilled. She had gotten to know him during captioned-movie nights she hosted at her apartment. Over the years, Yeh gave her advice on a small business she started. She had watched him become a respected businessman.

"We all cheered for him," Gutierrez recalled. "If anyone could do it, he could, we said, because he is deaf and knows our needs better than hearing people who started earlier relay systems."

For a deaf person who wants to call a friend, a relative, her child's school or even a plumber, the Telecommunications Relay Service provides an invaluable link.

In 1993, the first year the federal government reimbursed translation centers such as Viable, the Federal Communications Commission set aside $30.8 million. As the number of providers grew, so did the funding, rising to $64 million in 2002. Then it really took off, increasing to $440 million in 2007. The skyrocketing costs began to raise questions.

Viable and other service providers were reimbursed $6.73 per minute -- $403.80 per hour -- for the first 50,000 minutes a month, then slightly less after that.

The fraud at Viable started around summer 2006, court papers allege. John and Joseph Yeh paid friends and acquaintances to make bogus calls.

The scam grew as Viable contracted with call centers in New York, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Texas and encouraged owners to drum up more phony calls, court papers say. Yeh and his brother even offered tips on how to make the calls appear legitimate: The length of calls should vary, and phone numbers shouldn't be repeated too often.

In a July 2007 e-mail, Yeh gave an accomplice who co-owned a Viable call center in Arizona advice on how to conceal the scheme from federal regulators, according to court papers. "Your calls should look good -- not too perfect and too long hours. Important not raise 'red flag' for FCC to see it. Understand me?" he allegedly wrote.

Gutierrez said she thinks Yeh should be punished if he intended to cheat the system. But she wonders whether the alleged phony calls at first seemed an innocent "loophole" to boost business. "We see, all the time, hearing people become very successful and wealthy, but we never do, even when we give it all effort and follow the same rules. Over time, we get the impression that hearing people know all the loopholes," she said.

Moore said many deaf people are concerned that if widespread fraud is proved, support for the Telecommunications Relay Service will wane. The service, he said, "is as important to us as access to telephones and cellphones are to hearing people."

Investigators conducted 80 interviews in 10 states and so far have served three search warrants and 26 arrest warrants, the FBI said. Because many of the witnesses and defendants are deaf, at least two sign language interpreters were present for each interview, to guard against fatigue and to ensure accurate translation. The probe is continuing.

Yeh, along with his brother and two other Viable executives are charged with conspiracy to defraud the federal government and to submit false claims, submitting false claims, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and mail fraud. The case is pending in federal court in New Jersey, where the nonprofit association that administers the Telecommunications Relay Service fund is based.

"This is definitely bad news for the deaf community, considering that several of the accused are deaf and that Viable is alleged to be the chief player in the scandal, but I prefer to reserve judgment until . . . the judicial system reaches a verdict," Moore said. "It's a terrible situation."