The Federal Communications Commission demanded a total of $1.18 million be repaid to American taxpayers by Boomerang Wireless and Assist Wireless for overpayment of reimbursement claims they made and received for connected devices provided to consumers as part of COVID-era connectivity programs. The companies had sought reimbursement of as much as $100 per tablet for devices that were widely available for half that price. The companies have 30 days to pay the full amount to the U.S. Treasury.  Specifically, Boomerang must repay $131,027.10 in Affordable Connectivity Program and $513,608.04 in Emergency Broadband Benefit Program payments, for a total of $644,635.14.  Assist must repay $93,534.66 in ACP and $444,415.72 in EBB payments, for a total of $537,950.38.

While close to 150 world leaders prepared to descend on Manhattan for the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. Secret Service was quietly dismantling a massive hidden telecommunications network across the New York area—a system investigators say could have crippled cell towers, jammed 911 calls, and flooded networks with chaos at the very moment the city was most vulnerable. The cache, made up of more than 300 SIM servers packed with over 100,000 SIM cards and clustered within 35 miles of the United Nations, represents one of the most sweeping communications threats uncovered on U.S. soil. Investigators warn the system could have blacked out cellular service in a city that relies on it not only for daily life but for emergency response and counterterrorism. Coming as foreign leaders filled midtown hotels and motorcades clogged Manhattan, officials say the takedown highlights a new frontier of risk: plots aimed at the invisible infrastructure that keeps a modern city connected.