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New York billionaire hedge fund titan Phil Falcone’s LightSquared 4G venture, in danger of not getting the nod from Uncle Sam, tried to buy the approval of a key lawmaker, according to a shocking letter the senator released yesterday.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who is leading a Capitol Hill inquiry into how the government came to give the project a partial approval, said a representative of LightSquared earlier this month promised a staffer that the lawmaker’s support for the wireless program could cement a Midwest call center, “possibly in Iowa.”
The call followed an October e-mail to Grassley from Falcone, who has pumped $3 billion of his Harbinger Capital Partners into LightSquared, saying the project could be made “a win” for the senator.
In a letter sent to Falcone’s Park Avenue office yesterday, Grassley said the comment “implied an invitation to pull punches” in his probe into the Federal Communication Commission’s partial approval of LightSquared last year.
Grassley wants to know if the Reston, Va., company got its waiver without first exploring whether the system interferes with sensitive global positioning systems.
The GPS interference has since become a potential roadblock to final approval.
“I won’t be part of that,” Grassley said of the “unseemly invitation to discuss a quid pro quo.”
In Falcone’s October e-mail, the billionaire requested a meeting with Grassley. The lawmaker never met with Falcone, and a person close to his office told The Post that such a meeting would be inappropriate, given the ongoing probe.
Talk of a possible Iowa-based call center came earlier this month from Todd Ruelle, a former MCI executive who now runs a software company in downtown Manhattan called Fine Point Technologies.
Falcone immediately issued a statement distancing himself from Ruelle, saying the techie “does not, nor has he ever worked for Mr. Falcone, Harbinger or LightSquared as an employee or a consultant,” and that talk of a call center was Ruelle “acting entirely on his own and without the knowledge, authority, or endorsement of Mr. Falcone, Harbinger or LightSquared.“
Grassley said in the letter that Ruelle acknowledged no official ties to Falcone, saying he has been offering Falcone advice for maneuvering around Grassley and the FCC, and took credit for Falcone having contacted Grassley.
Ruelle indicated an economic incentive, however, telling the staffer, according to Grassley, he “only gets paid if this deal goes through.”
Grassley also attached an e-mail showing Ruelle had arranged a TV interview for Falcone last September. Ruelle then forwarded the interview details to a member of the White House’s Office of Science, Technology and Policy, saying, “I have arranged to hit back HARD!”
A person close to Falcone called Ruelle “a guy who’s trying to ingratiate himself” with Falcone.
Ruelle’s bio names him as an adviser to private equity giant Cerberus Capital Management, but an executive there told The Post Ruelle “never represented us here.”
Ruelle could not be reached for comment.