San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2012 -- An investor in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares against directors of AT&T Inc. over alleged breaches of fiduciary duties in connection with allegations that At&T improperly billed the federal government "tens of millions of dollars" for the IP Relay service, a service for the hearing and speech-impaired.

Investors who are current long-term stockholders in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail(at)shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.

AT&T provides a service called Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS), which is a service for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. IP Relay is a text-based communications service designed to allow hearing-impaired individuals to place telephone calls to hearing persons by typing messages over the Internet, which are then read aloud to the call recipient by call-center employees. The FCC, through the TRS Fund, reimburses IP Relay providers, such as AT&T at a rate of approximately $1.30 per minute.

The plaintiff says that only hearing-impaired and speech-impaired individuals in the United States were eligible for TRS.

However, IP Relay service has been abused by foreign scammers using the system to defraud American merchants with stolen credit cards and by other means.

The plaintiff alleges that AT&T's systems were blatantly inadequate for authenticating users, resulting in thousands of calls being made by users registered with fake names and addresses.

The plaintiff says that AT&T requested millions of dollars in allegedly false certifications and illegal reimbursements, while failing to follow guidelines and allowing non-impaired people outside of the U.S. to allegedly abuse AT&T's telecommunications relay services, to obtain the lucrative reimbursements for the IP Relay service.

The lawsuit by an investor against directors follows a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) against AT&T Corporation under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) for conduct related to its provision of Internet Protocol (IP) Relay services. Among other things, the Department of Justice alleges that AT&T continued to employ this system even with the knowledge that it facilitated use of IP Relay by fraudulent foreign callers, which accounted for up to 95% of AT&T’s call volume.

NYSE:T shares closed on April, 30, 2012 at $32.91 per share.

Those who purchased shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and currently hold those AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares, have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

Contact:
Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Joelle Day
3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423
92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739
mail@shareholdersfoundation.com