CFIUS Imposes Record $60M Fine on T-Mobile for Compliance Breach

In a significant enforcement action, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) has levied a record $60 million fine against T-Mobile (TMUS:US). 

This penalty represents the largest ever imposed by the committee and underscores its heightened focus on national security risks associated with foreign investments.

The fine is a result of T-Mobile's failure to adhere to a mitigation agreement linked to its $23 billion acquisition of Sprint Corp in 2020. 

T-Mobile, which Deutsche Telekom primarily owns, was found to have breached the terms of this agreement by failing to prevent and report unauthorized access to sensitive data during 2020 and 2021.

T-Mobile has responded by attributing the issues to technical difficulties encountered during the integration of Sprint. The company clarified that the affected data pertained to a limited number of law enforcement requests, remained within the appropriate channels, and was reported and addressed promptly.

In recent months, CFIUS has significantly increased its penalty activity, issuing six fines in the last 18 months alone—three times the number imposed between 1975 and 2022. Penalties have ranged from $100,000 to the current $60 million, illustrating the committee's broader crackdown on compliance failures. 

The delay in T-Mobile’s reporting of the data access issues, according to officials, impeded CFIUS’s ability to promptly investigate and mitigate potential national security threats, though specific details of the impact were not disclosed.

Despite the telecom giant's recent penalty, investor sentiment on Capitol Hill appears largely unaffected. The most recent sale was reported by Congressman Bill Keating, who picked up nearly $50,000 worth of corporate bonds. 

Other than him, lawmakers Jonathan Jackson, Ro Khanna, and Jared Moskowitz, all hold positions in the firm since 2023. The stock is trading more than 21% in the green year to date.