From Politico: A telecommunications company owned in part by Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott — an outspoken foe of the federal stimulus — has boasted of winning more than $60 million in stimulus grants and Department of Agriculture loans to develop high-speed internet infrastructure.
In a March 2010 press release, XFONE, Inc. President and CEO Guy Nissenson wrote to investors, “As most of you know, Xfone has been focused on growing its Fiber-To-The-Premise (FTTP) business over the past two years, given the sizable opportunity to bring broadband to secondary and rural markets in the U.S. This strategy took a huge leap forward recently with the notification that our wholly-owned subsidiary PRIDE Network had been awarded $63.6 million in stimulus grants and long-term loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).” A company monitoring report filed with the SEC in 2009 describesNissenson, a founding partner, as one of two “controlling shareholders” and Scott as one of two “other major shareholders.” [As of October 2008, Scott owned 10 percent of the company.] Keep reading here.