The FCC has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability to Aura Holdings of Wisconsin, Inc. (“Aura”) proposing a $235,668.00 penalty for the apparent willful and repeated submission of false and misleading information to the FCC regarding the ownership of antenna structures. The FCC alleges that Aura submitted ten false ownership change applications through the FCC’s Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) system, made false and misleading statements to an FCC employee regarding an antenna structure it did not own, and failed to respond to an FCC order regarding the veracity of the information submitted. Concluding that Aura not only displayed contempt for the FCC’s authority, the FCC states that it also delayed its investigation into an unlit tower risking air navigation safety and caused the FCC to expend resources to determine the ownership of the tower. Based on the egregiousness of Aura’s misconduct, the FCC proposes the statutory maximum base forfeiture of $19,639.00 for 11 instances of providing false material information to the FCC, and for failing to comply with an FCC order to produce information relating to Aura’s alleged misconduct. The FCC also directs Aura to submit within 30 days, complete responses to all FCC requests for information.
