Dish’s Charlie Ergen cross-examined over broken promises ahead of merger

The coalition of attorneys general looking to block T-Mobile’s $26 billion merger with Sprint ripped into media mogul Charlie Ergen on Wednesday in an effort to cast doubt on his plans to build a carr𓄧ier to replace Sprint.

California Deputy Attorney General Paula Blizzard questioned the Dish founder and chairman in Manhattan federal court about what she claimed was his long history of broken promises to build a wireless network. ꦉShe also attacked his claims of having a solid relationship with the Federal Com♑munication Commission, the regulator overseeing Dish’s failed wireless efforts.

In one awkwar🌄d moment, Blizzard whipped out documents showing the current FCC chief, Ajit Pai, blasting Dish’s past dealings with it as “shenanigans” and “bid-rigging.”

Pai made the comments in response to Dish’s participation in a taxpayer-funded auction designed to help small companies buy spectrum in 2015. Dish participated in the auctꦜion, when it was valued at $34 billion, through two companies it had an 85-percent🐻 stake in, the FCC said at the time.

In another uncomfortable exchange, the prosecutor presented Ergen with a series of text messages between him and the chief of th🐈e Department of Justice’s antitrust division suggesting Ergen, 66, needed to lean on his powerful friends to convince Pai to get on board with his plan to build a network by buying assets from Sprint.

“Today would be a good day to have your senator friends contact the chairman,” the DOJ’s Makan Delrahim said in the text me💦ssage.

“And the chairmไan woulꦓd be Chairman Pai, correct?” Blizzard asked Ergen.

“That’s correct,” he said.

Ergen then texted Delrahim to confirm he called lawmakers, includin🔯g Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the evidence showed. But he denied on the witness stand Wednesday that he asked McConnell, a Republican, to use his sway with Pai.

Ergen’s cross-examination lasted less than two hours, but the back-and-forth had the Dish founder — known for his poker skills — so exasperated that he d💫ram🙈atically rolled his eyes as he walked off the witness stand.

The AGs, ไincluding New York’s Letitia James, have sued to block the deal, saying it will lessen competition and increase prices for consumers. Dish is not a strong candidate to replace Sprint, they say, because it has not followed through on past promises to build a wireless carrier.

“Despite telling the FCC in 2012 that you plan to enter the wireless market for American consumers … as we sit here today, that network does not exist, correct? Blizzard asked on Thursday. Ergen, who has owned unused spectrum since 2008, agreed.

The DOJ approved the T-Mobile/S♛print merger in July. The FCC OK’d it in October after T-Mobile and Sprint agreed to sell assets to Dish to help it create a fourth ☂wireless network.

Ergen on Wednesday testified that he’s ready to compete with the nation’s largest carriers “from Day 1” after the merger is signed. He even touted letters from three banks showing they are willing to lend $10🐓 billion to fund the project.

Asked if Dish can be trusted to build out a network, Ergen pointed to the $2.2 bil♕lion in fines he could face from the DOJ and that he could lose licenses to operate✅ spectrum. “It would be financial suicide, and we’re not suicidal,” he said.

But Ergen has gone back on his word ev𓆏en when the stakes🅠 were high, he admitted Wednesday.

During questioningও from Blizzard, Ergen admitted that a federal court found that he had violated a commitment he made under penalty of perjury to not offer broadcast channels like CBS and ABC through his satellite TV company EchoStar to customers ♔who had access to those channels with an antenna.