Maverix Broadband says a paper trail proves it did not misuse taxpayer funds

Maverix Broadband pushed back this week on claims the company has misused millions of dollars in public funding that resulted in the Colorado Broadband Office freezing all projects linked to the company, including rescinding a federal grant for more than $100 million.

The report, sent Monday to Maverix, caught the Parker-based internet provider off guard because they had been responding and providing hundreds of documents to state officials for months, said David Lindauer, the company’s cofounder. In a 22-page response shared with The Colorado Sun late Tuesday, the company said it “disputes every calculation, determination and finding in the Comprehensive Monitoring Report dated September 21, 2026.”

Maverix also had an explanation for everything. 

Nearly $600,000 in orders canceled by vendor One Technology that the state reimbursed Maverix for? There’s no written record that Maverix asked them to cancel it, according to a One Technology letter Maverix submitted to the state agency in August. 

Another $116,629 reimbursed to Maverix for equipment from Telecom Surplus Resources, which told the state Maverix never delivered? The two companies have an agreement where “TSR stores purchased material at no charge and then ships it to our approved address,” according to Maverix’s response. 

“I’m a little concerned when I provide hundreds of documents and (then) the report comes out where it feels like, I’m going to say, it’s missing a few things but it honestly feels like they read almost none of the documents we provided,” Lindauer told The Colorado Sun on Monday.

After Maverix sent its responses to the broadband office, Lindauer said Wednesday in a text message to The Sun, “I’m now showing they’ve opened my email over 90 times, and they’re suddenly opening emails I sent them months ago for the first time in a long time.”

The matter has been referred to the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, and an attorney from the Attorney General’s Office replied to Maverix on Wednesday afternoon that the response had been received and, “If you have any other documents, please send by 10/6.”

“The CBO takes its responsibility seriously to ensure that public funds are used appropriately, payments are documented, and that the quality services promised are delivered. We will review Maverix’s response carefully,” Alison Terry, interim director of the broadband office, said in an email to The Sun. 

Maverix launched more than five years ago after Lindauer set up his own high-speed internet service at his new home in Parker where service was terrible. 

The company has since expanded into rural areas, including in unincorporated Elbert County where resident Pat Gonzales is a happy customer. 

“We knew Maverix was coming and it took a couple of years to get fiber optics, but we signed up immediately,” she said. “There are a lot of people who work from home here and if you can make that happen, to be able to have high speed at an affordable price, I just don’t want it to ever end.”

Maverix went on to receive a half-dozen state and federal grants to build fiber lines in towns like Livermore in Larimer County and Walsenburg in Huerfano County.

But the big win came last year when Maverix was awarded $103 million as part of the $42.5 billion federal program known as BEAD, short for Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment. Approved by Congress in 2021, BEAD was expected to provide enough funding to help the last U.S. households finally get access to high-speed internet. 

But as happens to many big projects, there were delays. And BEAD wasn’t immune. Last year, the Colorado Broadband Office had to redo the entire BEAD award process after a Trump administration edict ordered the program to allow for cheaper alternatives to fiber, such as wireless and satellite internet services.

“A lot of it came down to the delays with BEAD. That unfortunate delay pushed lenders back (from) wait and see,” Lindauer said. In January, lenders of a $7.9 million loan forced the company into receivership. Under the receiver, Maverix LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Aug. 31.

The receivership and bankruptcy complicated the process for the broadband office, which was trying to keep projects moving. But in an earlier interview, Terry said, “We can’t ask for the money back without going through the courts.”

The Colorado Sun reached out to many of the vendors and contractors named in the Colorado Broadband Office’s monitoring report. One mentioned he hadn’t spoken to Lindauer for months but declined to elaborate. Another knew exactly what the call was about but referred comments to the company’s president, who’d already taken off Thursday for a long weekend. 

Two companies didn’t respond to messages left this week asking about CBO’s claims and Maverix’s counterclaims involving their companies. That included Prodigy Excavating & Engineering, which appears on $1.9 million worth of Maverix’s BEAD invoices with billing discrepancies and is also Maverix’s largest unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy case.

When asked whether canceling Maverix’s BEAD award could be reversed, the state Broadband Office responded: 

“The state is prohibited by federal guidance from approving any grant if it deems the potential recipient cannot meet the financial, managerial and/or operational capability requirements of the program. Explicitly, the CBO ‘must ensure that all subgrantees have the financial and managerial capacity to meet the commitments made and agreed to in the subgrant agreement and the requirements of the BEAD Program.’ The CBO will comply with these requirements to protect taxpayer money and ensure that Coloradans who need broadband get the service they deserve.”