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Scott Stringer is joined by his school board representative Patrick Sullivan and City Council members to demand a quick payback of stolen money from Verizon.

Opponents of the Department of Education’s $120 million contract with Verizon aren’t letting the contract’s approval silence their criticism.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer led a press conference today to demand that Verizon return hundreds of thousands of dollars that it earned through a contractor’s fraud.

City investigators found that Willard Lanham overbilled the DOE by $3.6 million while subcontracting with Verizon and IBM. The investigators’ report concludes that Verizon concealed irregularities in Lanham’s accounting until the department raised red flags of its own. Verizon made as much as $800,000 through the illicit transactions, according to the report.

Lanham, the man at the center of the scandal, was arrested and charged with mail fraud and theft, but his trial has not yet started.

Verizon officials said they would pay back the money, but Stringer said the fact that the company hasn’t done so already calls into question its integrity.

“You must return the money,” Stringer said. “You must send a signal to the city that you will be a good corporate citizen.” (more…)