Verizon and Sprint Settle Billing Complaints for Combined $158 Million

Sprint and Verizon will pay a combined $158 million to settle government complaints that they allowed third-party companies to bill subscribers millions of dollars in unauthorized charges, a practice known as “cramming,” federal officials said Tuesday. The bulk of that money will be set aside for subscriber refunds. The agreement also settles a lawsuit filed in December by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against Sprint for cramming. Last fall AT&T paid $105 million to settle similar charges; T-Mobile paid $90 million.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.