Las
Vegas Public Radio (LVPR), a LPFM station that signed on in 2016, may have
broken federal laws when it failed to disclose its partnership with Chinese
telecom giant Huawei.
(NOTE: LVPR is not
associated in any way with Nevada Public Radio, the licensee of NPR News/Talk
station KNPR.)
According
to an article published on Monday (5/11) by The
Free Beacon [link], LVPR is working
with Huawei to develop programs for the U.S. In exchange,
Huawei promised to help LVPR open a branch in China.
In May 2019, LVPR
registered with U.S State Department as a lobbyist for Huawei.
 |
| Gregory LaPorta |
Gregory
LaPorta, founder and CEO of LVPR, told The
Free Beacon that he and LVPR have received no money or in-kind compensation
for its work for Huawei.
LaPorta also has provided consulting services for the Chinese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In
September 2019, LVPR (a/k/a KIOF-LP), announced that they were in the process
of opening an office, and possibly a radio station, on Mainland China.
LaPorta
then traveled to Beijing to set up the arrangements. While in China, he also
met with Chinese officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a post on
LVPR’s website [link], LaPorta said he has been involved with Huawei “…for some time on behalf of the United
States representing Las Vegas, Nevada.”
Though
LVPR is an IRS-qualified 501c3 non-profit corporation, they claimed in in their
IRS filings that they received no money during the past four years. The report
in The Free Beacon also said that no paperwork
exists in LVPR’s files about LVPR’s relationship with either Huawei or the
government of China.
 |
Andy LaPorta looking
for office space in Beijing
|
Welcome
to the world of Gregory LaPorta, a fast-talking, litigious and secretive man
who is known as a chronic complainer who has his lawyer on speed-dial.
LVPR
might be called a family business.
According to an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal [link], Gregory
LaPorta is President of the nonprofit corporation that owns LVPR.
His wife, Joanna
LaPorta, is Secretary/Treasurer.
His son, Andy LaPorta, is LVPR’s manager.
LAPORTA BATTLES WITH
"WEAK-KNEED YES-MEN"
Long
time Spark News readers may recall
that we have been covering LaPorta and LVPR since November 2016 when we were
the first to report on LaPorta lawsuits against CPB and the FCC. Here are just
a few of LaPorta’s greatest hits from previous Spark News posts:
LAWSUIT AGAINST CPB
AND THE FCC IN 2016
After
being turned down by CPB for a Community Service Grant (CSG). LaPorta argued
that CPB unlawfully used Nielsen ratings against him even though "there is no creditable proven
scientific evidence or data to support Nielsen’s claims" of audience
size.”
The
lawsuit against CPB and the FCC, filed in US District Court in November 2016 also
alleged that CPB’s decision to not provide funding for LVPR “violates federal equal protection and due
process standards.”
Regarding
the FCC, LVPR suit claimed that “…the
addition of the letters "LP" to the station's call sign is
"discriminatory, exclusionary and confiscatory," because it is a
‘turn off’ to underwriters.”
LaPorta
also said that “CPB and FCC boards are
full of weak-kneed yes-men who won't rock the taxpayer funded gravy train that
everyone on the inside benefits from.”
LaPorta
also alleged that “that a conspiracy
exists by officials from CPB and the FCC to deny LVPR funding.”
“LVPR recognizes that one of two possibilities
exists: The board members of CPB and the FCC] act in concert, individualluy
(sic), privately and outside of LVPR's public application process..”
The
US District Court later dismissed the lawsuit.
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