<http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hMT9GSjeFeuiRWPCUKflpfkvfw3QD96SN9S00>2charged after search of DC tech office
By DEVLIN BARRETT and NEDRA PICKLER - 1 hour ago WASHINGTON (AP) - A District of Columbia employee and a technology consultant were charged with corruption Thursday after a raid on the former office of a city official who now works for President Barack Obama. The charges were formalized in a federal court hearing as the FBI finished searching the city's technology office, which was led until recently by Obama's new computer chief, Vivek Kundra. Yusuf Acar, a city technology worker, was ordered held without bond pending a hearing Tuesday. Prosecutors said $70,000 in cash was found during a search of Acar's Washington home and that he posed a serious flight risk. Technology consultant Sushil Bansal of Dunn Loring, Va., was released but was ordered not to conduct overseas financial transactions or leave the Washington metropolitan area. Bansal is due back in court on April 21, and prosecutors said they were hopeful that a plea agreement could be reached in his case. Acar worked under Kundra, Obama's pick to coordinate federal computer systems. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether the White House knew the investigation was under way when it named Kundra last week, but called the case "a serious matter." Acar, a 40-year-old native of Turkey, had a $127,468-a-year position purchasing the city's computer equipment and lining up contract workers for numerous city agencies. Authorities say Acar and Bansal, along with others, defrauded the government through a variety of schemes, including billing the city for items that were never delivered and "ghost" contract employees who did not work. The scheme involved falsifying bills and splitting the money with vendors who submitted them, court documents alleged. The FBI worked with another employee in the city's technology office, who recorded conversations with Acar as part of the investigation. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Obama official on leave after FBI raids By DEVLIN BARRETT and NEDRA PICKLER - 2 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) - An aide to President Barack Obama is on leave from his White House job after the FBI raided his old District of Columbia government office Thursday, arresting a city employee and a technology consultant on corruption charges, a White House official said. The charges were lodged against the two men at a federal court hearing as the FBI finished searching the city's technology office, which was led until recently by Obama's new computer chief, Vivek Kundra. Kundra is on leave from his White House job until further details of the case become known, according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the official did not want to publicly discuss personnel matters. At the court hearing, Yusuf Acar, the acting chief security officer in the city's technology office, was ordered held without bond pending a hearing Tuesday. Prosecutors said $70,000 in cash was found during a search of Acar's Washington home and that he posed a serious flight risk. Technology consultant Sushil Bansal of Dunn Loring, Va., was released but was ordered not to conduct overseas financial transactions or leave the Washington metropolitan area. Bansal is due back in court on April 21, and prosecutors said they were hopeful that a plea agreement could be reached in his case. Acar worked under Kundra, Obama's pick to coordinate federal computer systems. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether the White House knew the investigation was under way when it named Kundra last week, but called the case "a serious matter." Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, said she was "very confident" Kundra is not a target of the investigation. Bansal's lawyer, David Lamb declined to comment. It was not immediately clear who would represent Acar in the case. Acar, a 40-year-old native of Turkey, had a $127,468-a-year position purchasing the city's computer equipment and lining up contract workers for numerous city agencies, according to court documents. Authorities say Acar and Bansal, along with others, defrauded the government through a variety of schemes, including billing the city for items that were never delivered and "ghost" contract employees who did not work. The scheme involved Acar approving falsified bills and splitting the money with vendors including Bansal, who submitted them, court documents alleged. Bansal, a native of India who turns 42 next week, is a former city employee and the founder and chief executive of Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp. The company has offices in Washington and India and did more than $13 million in business with the District of Columbia government in the past five years, according to court documents. One contract involved providing computer support for the city's Department of Motor Vehicles. The company also was given a contract to upgrade the city's human resources computer records and sold virus detection software to the city. In August Bansal was named entrepreneur of the year by the Association of Indians in America. An FBI affidavit supporting the arrest warrants indicates that several other businesses and individuals were involved in the alleged schemes, but the other people are identified only by their initials. The FBI worked with another employee in the city's technology office, who was in on the scheme and secretly recorded conversations with Acar and Bansal as part of the investigation. In 2007, federal investigators uncovered a massive embezzlement scheme in the city's tax office. Men and women dressed in suits and wearing latex gloves could be seen entering and leaving the glass-enclosed lobby of the Office of the Chief Technology Officer on Thursday afternoon. Even as the raid was taking place, Kundra was giving a speech at FOSE, an annual government technology expo. Kundra said part of his focus is to change the way the government buys technologies from vendors. Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Donna Borak, Brian Westley and Brett Zongker contributed to this report. FBI raids former offices of Obama's choice for CIO (Submitted as FBI News.) March 12, 2009 9:45 AM PDT FBI raids former offices of Obama's choice for CIO by Declan McCullagh CNET News As Vivek Kundra, President Obama's choice for U.S. chief information officer, was speaking about government transparency at the Washington, D.C., convention center on Thursday morning, his former offices a few blocks away were being raided by the FBI. Until Obama's announcement last week, Kundra was the District of Columbia's chief technology officer. The FBI raid coincided with two arrests as part of a bribery sting--Yusuf Acar, 40, and Sushil Bansal, 41--according to a report in the Washington Post The nature of the charges are not known. Acar worked for Kundra as an information systems security officer with responsibility for government contracts. A number of requests for bids posted on the District's Web site list Acar as "responsible for general administration of the contract" and "responsible for the day-to-day monitoring and supervision of the contract, of ensuring that the work conforms to the requirements of this contract." Bansal previously worked as a project manager for the D.C. government and then founded a consulting firm called Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation. AITC is a D.C.-government certified contractor with multiple contracts with the city, including one for "information technology services" worth $10 million. AITC says that its contracts with the city of Washington, D.C., include technical support and network administration for the DMV's driver licensing system and that the city purchased McAfee anti-spyware licenses from AITC. Kundra's speech at the FOSE 2009 summit on Thursday focused on government transparency. He said: "We also want to tap into the ingenuity of the American people, lowering the cost of government operations, engaging citizens, and radical transparency ultimately pulls the citizens of the United States closer to the government." "Imagine the vast depository of information the federal government has and what people could do if they had access to it--how it could change the engagement model and help create a more perfect union," he said. The FBI and U.S. Attorney's office were not immediately available for comment. Kundra's last day was March 4. During the FBI raid, most of the employees were told to go home, with others segregated into a waiting room, according to a report by WTOP radio. From: "Florence Mitchell" <[email protected]> To: "Mitchell Bill Jr." <[email protected]>, "Mitchell Frank" <[email protected]> Cc: "Danielson Don" <[email protected]> References: <[email protected]> Subject: Fwd: [Xgboys] FBI raids former offices of Obama's choice for CIO Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:17:20 -0700 Message-ID: <[email protected]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00F6_01C9A328.CB9D41F0" X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.930.3) X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5579 Thread-index: AcmjRzVcmk2wzdTqSbSZHXjr/6brgA== X-AOL-IP: 76.96.59.211 Good grief Kids!!! It gets worse and worse!! Can't he find ANYONE who is law abiding???? Love, Mom Begin forwarded message: >From: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] >Date: March 12, 2009 1:33:36 PM EDT >To: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] >Subject: [Xgboys] FBI raids former offices of Obama's choice for CIO > >(Submitted as FBI News.) > >March 12, 2009 9:45 AM PDT >FBI raids former offices of Obama's choice for CIO >by Declan McCullagh > >CNET News >As Vivek Kundra, President Obama's choice for U.S. chief information >officer, was speaking about government transparency at the Washington, D.C., >convention center on Thursday morning, his >former offices a few blocks away were >being raided by the FBI. >Until Obama's announcement last week, Kundra was the District of Columbia's >chief technology officer. The FBI raid coincided with two arrests as part of >a bribery sting--Yusuf Acar, 40, and Sushil Bansal, 41--according to a report >in the Washington Post The nature of the charges are not known. >Acar worked for Kundra as an information systems security officer with >responsibility for government contracts. A >number of requests for bids posted on >the District's Web site list Acar as "responsible for general administration >of the contract" and "responsible for the day-to-day monitoring and >supervision of the contract, of ensuring that >the work conforms to the requirements of >this contract." >Bansal previously worked as a project manager for the D.C. government and >then founded a consulting firm called Advanced Integrated Technologies >Corporation. AITC is a D.C.-government > certified contractor with multiple contracts >with the city, including one for "information technology services" worth $10 >million. >AITC says that its contracts with the city of Washington, D.C., include >technical support and network administration for the DMV's driver licensing >system and that the city purchased McAfee anti-spyware licenses from AITC. >Kundra's speech at the FOSE 2009 summit on Thursday focused on government >transparency. He said: "We also want to tap >into the ingenuity of the American >people, lowering the cost of government operations, engaging citizens, and >radical transparency ultimately pulls the >citizens of the United States closer >to the government." >"Imagine the vast depository of information the federal government has and >what people could do if they had access to it--how it could change the >engagement model and help create a more perfect union," he said. >The FBI and U.S. Attorney's office were not immediately available for >comment. Kundra's last day was March 4. >During the FBI raid, most of the employees were told to go home, with others >segregated into a waiting room, according to a report by WTOP radio. > >--------Blazer > >**************Need a job? Find employment help in your area. >(<http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=employment_agencies&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000005>http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=employment_agencies&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000005) > > > > > >Xgboys mailing list ><mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] >http://lists.xgboy.com/mailman/listinfo/xgboys > = --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
