D.C. Official, Contractor Arrested in Bribery Sting

[Pirate Smile]

Source: Washington Post

By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 12, 2009; 12:09 PM

An official in the D.C. government's office of the chief technology officer and a contractor for the agency were arrested in a federal bribery sting today and the FBI has descended on the office to search for evidence, law enforcement sources said.

Yusuf Acar, 40, was taken into custody this morning by FBI agents at his home in Northwest Washington, the sources said.
Sushil Bansal, a former city employee and a contractor with the technology office, also has been arrested.

The nature of the charges could not be determined. Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined to comment on the arrest, saying the case "is under seal."

Acar, who has worked for the city since 2004, serves as an information systems security officer in the D.C. government 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.

Bansal is president and CEO of Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation, which has several contracts with D.C. government agencies, including the technology office and the Department of Motor Vehicles. According to his company's Web site, Bansal used to work in the D.C. government. Last August, he was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year Award of the Association of Indians in America.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/12/AR2009031201426.html

---

Updated with more complete article.

[maddezmom]

1. thanks for posting this

:)

[Pirate Smile]

2. You're welcome.

:)

[Blue_Tires]

3. damn...

i see Obama hired that guy's boss and hot him, but i still never thought in a million years that anyone in the obama administration would ever think hiring someone from D.C. city government is a good thing...

[kpete]

4. FBI raids office of D.C. CTO, Obama appointee

Source: Politico

March 12, 2009
FBI raids office of D.C. CTO, Obama appointee

Federal agents this morning are searching the Judiciary Square office of Washington, D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer.

The search is part of "an ongoing investigation," said a spokeswoman for the FBI's D.C. Field Office, Lindsay Gotwin, said. She declined to comment further.

The outgoing Chief Technology Officer, Vivek Kundra, was appointed last week Chief Information Officer by the Obama administration. His last day at the city government office was February 4, a spokeswoman for D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Leslie Kershaw, said.

"We know the FBI is over there but that's all we know," said a staffer in the D.C. CTO's office, Mario Field, who was working from a separate location. Another source familiar with the raid said the FBI had sent all staffers other than senior executives home for the day.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0309/FBI_raids_office_of_DC_CTO_Obama_appointee.html

[w4rma]

5. Obama has to stop Rahm from picking his appointees. (nt)

[Captain Hilts]

6. Rahm doesn't pick them, Obama does. nt

[w4rma]

7. How do you know? (nt)

[Captain Hilts]

9. They are "Obama's appointees." Just as you said. They are Obama's responsibility.

No more this "if you approve of what the Roosevelt Administration does, credit Franklin, if you don't approve of what they do, blame Eleanor" crap with Obama and Emmanuel.

[No Elephants]

26. Obama is ultimately responsible, I agree, but don't exonerate Rahm.

[Tempest]

18. What does that have to do with the guy arrested?

Obama's appointee wasn't arrested, someone who worked for him was.

[merh]

28. That is how I read this.

The Obama appointee is not the one arrested or under investigation.

It is the same folks jumping on the "blame Obama" band wagon, posting nonsense. They have become as predictable as the tides.

[peacetalksforall]

8. Sent the staffers home - what does that mean - they vacated the offices?

Or sent them back to their offices from this office they are raiding?

[BlueJessamine]

10. From WTOP radio:

There are at least a dozen FBI agents - including evidence technicians - at the office, located at 1 Judiciary Square on 4th Street in Northwest, WTOP's Mark Segraves reports.

Most of the employees have been told to go home. Other employees have been segregated into a waiting room.

A spokesman for D.C.'s U.S. Attorney tells WTOP he cannot discuss the investigation, as it is currently sealed.

[jayfish]

11. "English, Mother F*cker; do you speak it?" -NT-

Jay

[Pirate Smile]

12. WP has more: The person taken into custody was Yusuf Acar. He worked for Vivek Kundra.

Breaking: D.C. Tech Official Busted in Federal Bribery Sting
An official in the D.C. government's office of the chief technology officer has been arrested in a federal bribery sting, according to law enforcement sources.

Yusuf Acar, 40, was taken into custody this morning by FBI agents at his home in Northwest Washington, the sources said. The nature of the charges could not be determined. Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined to comment on the arrest, saying the case "is under seal."

Acar serves as an information systems security officer in the D.C. government. He worked for Vivek Kundra, the District's chief technology officer. Kundra recently left D.C. government to become President Obama's federal chief information officer.

Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for the mayor, declined to comment this morning.

The Office of the Chief Technology Officer has a budget of about $69 million and 298 employees.

Acar, who began working for the city in Nov. 2004, earns $127,468. He is listed as having purchased a house in Northwest Washington for $1.4 million in 2006.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2009/03/breaking_dc_tech_official_bust.html

[jayfish]

14. Can We Please Replace The LBN Story WIth Your Link? -NT-

Jay

[Pirate Smile]

16. Well, I'd love to but I don't have that kind of DU power.

;)

Don't forget, Always Assume The Worst seems to be the motto for a lot of people.

I don't fit in with that crowd. Patience seems to be in very short supply. We'll find out more. Right now, we essentially know nada.

[Pirate Smile]

20. I posted it in LBN.

:)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3779437&mesg_id=3779437

[jayfish]

21. Thank You VM.

:hi:

Jay

[maddezmom]

15. thank you for posting this. MSNBC is behind the eightball on this one

They don't know about the arrest yet. :eyes:

[peacetalksforall]

24. If it all hangs around the cost of the house - just go and interview his initial sub-prime

mortgage lender-advisor. With all due sarcasm.

So, we're waiting to see who he bribed or who he was bribed by (and what is means to the little people)?

[AzDar]

13. WTF?

WHO is doing the vetting here?

:crazy:

[acmavm]

17. Apparently cheney.

[Tempest]

19. Read the other article

It wasn't the appointee arrested.

[Old and In the Way]

22. Something stinks here.

If the FBI was building this case, I have to assume Obama's administration must have made a cursory check with the FBI to see if they had anything on this guy. I wonder if Mueller's gang is trying to embarrass this administration? I'd really like this guy to go...

[Divine Discontent]

23. was thinking the exact same thing about the check... eom

[Belial]

25. Sheesh.. any chance we could pick someone for the administration

that hasn't broken the law.. connected to someone breaking the law.. let someone else break the law?? My brother in law is beating me silly will all of this shit.. this isnt Chicago.. people are going to pay a little bit more attention..

[merh]

27. Isn't the FBI contacted during the vetting process, to determine

if the nominee is free from suspicion?

If I read this correctly, this involves someone that worked for/with the appointee when the appointee held a job with DC government. If I am correct in my reading, perhaps the vetting process is what began the investigation into this person. Who knows.

I'm pretty saddened by those that assume guilt based on this article.