Digicel has won an eight-year legal battle involving a US rival it accused of fraud.
The Irish Times is reporting that Digicel Haiti has been awarded more than US$10 million in damages against Oregon company UPM Technology and its CEO, Bruce Tran.
In the matter first brought in 2015, Digicel built a case against UPM for what is described as "bypass fraud".
That is when one telecommunications firm uses technology to override the systems of another, in a bid to resell its calls cheaper.
UPM admitted to the practice but claimed it did not amount to fraud.
The case went to trial in the Oregon district court a few weeks before Christmas.
Legal filings show the jury decided UPM and Mr. Tran had "engaged in fraud by active concealment", by using software to trigger Digicel's systems in Haiti to give cheap calls.
Digicel sought tens of millions of dollars in damages, but the court ruled that the respondent must pay US$5.4 million in compensation, of which 75 per cent is to be paid by UPM.
The rest is to be covered by Mr. Tran.
Digicel got an additional US$3.6 million in punitive damages to be paid by UPM, and a further US$700,000 in punitive damages against Mr. Tran.
comments powered by Disqus
.jpg)
All feeds
