More Details Emerge About D.C. Tech Officials Arrests

Yusuf Acar was arrested with $4,500 in his pajamas. Acar was a top official in the District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Technology Officer and is now considered a flight risk to Turkey.

His attorney, public defender Dani Jahn, declined to comment on the case yesterday. Acar, who has been jailed since his arrest Thursday, is scheduled to have a detention hearing today before U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola.

Acar and a business executive who was also arrested Thursday were described by prosecutors in the court filing as the "two primary participants" in the alleged scam. The businessman, Sushil Bansal, 41, president and chief executive of the contracting firm Advanced Integrated Technologies, was released on personal recognizance.

Federal agents began investigating Acar after being approached last April by a D.C. employee who agreed to record conversations with Acar as part of the probe. In yesterday's court filing, prosecutors wrote that they think Acar had operated the "complicated scheme for years."

Acar was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and launder money, honest-services wire fraud and conflict of interest. He could face 6 1/2 years to a little more than eight years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines if convicted, prosecutors wrote.

They said that the potential sentence makes Acar a flight risk, and that they are not sure anyone could guarantee his compliance with pretrial supervision rules. Acar "involved his wife and several friends and co-workers" in his alleged crimes, they wrote.

FBI agents have said that Bansal wrote several checks worth a total of $70,201 to Acar's wife, Galen, in 2006 and 2007. She has not been charged in the case.

Also, it appears that Acar was working on a plan to smuggle out another $200,000 in a Turkish diplomatic pouch to avoid detection.

Acar was a top official for Vivek Kundra, who was recently chosen by President Obama as his Chief Information Officer. Kundra is on leave, even as he took office mere days ago and despite no word that he was directly involved in the investigation or the criminal acts alleged.

UPDATE:
Kundra was quietly reinstated by the Administration today. Funny how that works.

White House officials confirmed to The New York Times that Mr. Kundra had been reinstated today; it was first reported this afternoon by Techpresident.com without confirmation.

The reinstatement comes a few days after F.B.I. agents had raided his former office at the District of Columbia’s technology department. Mr. Kundra was not a target of the raid. A former employee of his, Yusuf Acar, has been charged with bribery. The F.B.I. said that Mr. Kundra was not implicated in the bribery case, but he took a leave from his new federal job anyway.

The reinstatement comes as word was swirling around the Internet about a youthful arrest of Mr. Kundra for a theft involving something of less than $300 in value. Asked if Mr. Kundra had revealed the arrest during the White House vetting process, officials said they would not discuss the process but pointed out that the reinstatement should speak for itself.

Hmmm... the reinstatement speaks for itself? You mean to tell me that Obama doesn't mind having criminals in his administration? Is that the message he's sending (and repeatedly sent courtesy of all the tax cheats he's brought on board, starting with Tim Geithner at Treasury, or sought to bring on board, including Tom Daschle)?

No, I don't think that's the message Obama wants to send, but it is a message one can take away.