Gabelli Firm to Pay $34 Million to End Case

Lynch Interactive Corp., a communications holding company run by money manager Mario Gabelli, agreed to pay $34 million to settle claims that it participated in a scheme to defraud the U.S. government in bidding for cellphone licenses.

The settlement has not yet been approved by the court, the Rye, N.Y.-based company said in a statement Monday. Gabelli, chairman and chief executive of Lynch Interactive, was also named in the suit filed in 2001 under the federal False Claims Act.

Gabelli, 63, said June 6 that he had reached an accord with the office of U.S. Atty. Michael Garcia in Manhattan, which had moved to take over the case.

The investor is expected to announce terms of his settlement today.

The suit stemmed from Gabelli’s role in Federal Communications Commission auctions in the 1990s. The government set aside cellphone licenses to be sold to small businesses. Gabelli used sham start-ups to acquire the licenses and sell them for a profit, according to the suit.