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.

Two Arrested In Bribery Sting at Obama Information Officer's Former Office

Are you kidding me? This is a developing story, but it appears that two people connected with President Obama's new Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra have been arrested on bribery charges. Kundra had previously provided advice to the Obama Administration during the transition and was the Head of the DC Office of Chief Technology Officer (department of redundancy department in the naming?). So far, there's no direct link to Kundra, but the investigation is ongoing and apparently expanding to other floors withint eh building:

Two officials in the D.C.'s Office of the Chief Technology Officer have been arrested in a federal bribery sting, sources tell WTOP.

D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer employees Sushil Bansal and 40-year-old Yusuf Acar have been arrested, sources tell WTOP.

Acar was taken into custody Thursday morning by FBI agents at his home in Northwest D.C.

The hits keep on rolling.

UPDATE:
Obama's appointment of Vivek Kundra to his chief information officer may be thrown in doubt, but I doubt whether his vetters could have learned of the bribery scheme and the federal investigation prior to now without damaging the investigation in the first place. Obama probably got blindsided on this one. So far, no evidence of Kundra's own wrongdoing, but the stench of wrongdoing is evident.

UPDATE:
Warrants have now been issued and served on Kundra's own residence?

The FBI is now serving a search warrant at the office of D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer, WTOP has learned.

"We are there as part of a continuing ongoing criminal investigation," FBI Washington Field Office spokesperson Katherine Schweit tells WTOP.

They could be collecting additional evidence on Bansal and Acar, or more ominously tying Kundra to the malfeasance.

The FBI is now serving a search warrant at the office of D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer, WTOP has learned.

"We are there as part of a continuing ongoing criminal investigation," FBI Washington Field Office spokesperson Katherine Schweit tells WTOP.

Misread the paragraph. Apologies to all concerned.

UPDATE:
This investigation has been ongoing for more than a year:

Federal agents began investigating the pair about a year ago, according to a source familiar with the investigation. The source requested anonymity because the case is pending.

The source said Acar solicited and accepted bribes from Bansal and awarded contracts to his company. Bansal's company also charged, with Acar's knowledge, the District for "ghost employees," who did no work, the source said.
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Acar has worked for the city since 2004 and earns $127,468. He worked for Vivek Kundra, the city's chief technology officer, who recently left D.C. government to become President Obama's federal chief information officer. Kundra is not suspected of any wrongdoing, the source said.

D.C. Council records show that Bansal's company was awarded a $10 million, one-year contract in June to provide "information technology services, equipment and software." Payment, however, was to be based on task orders and delivery, meaning the company would not necessarily receive the entire $10 million. According to city purchase order records, Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation received $3,400 from the technology office in 2003. Beginning in 2004, the company received more contracts and more work, totaling more than $6.6 million as of January 2008. The company's Web site states that last year AITC received several city contracts, including at least one with the Department of Motor Vehicles.