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White House CIO On Leave Amid Scandal At D.C. Technology Office

Acting CSO, technology consultant for D.C. technology office also are arrested on charges of theft and corruption

Mar 16, 2009 | 05:20 PM

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading

The acting CSO and a consultant in the District of Columbia's technology office have been arrested for theft and corruption, leading to the temporary stepping down of their former supervisor, newly appointed White House CIO Vivek Kundra.

According to news reports, law enforcement officials arrested Yusuf Acar, acting CSO of the D.C. technology office, and Sunshil Bansal, a technology consultant. Acar is being held without bond; he is considered a flight risk after police found more than $70,000 in cash in his home.

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's approving falsified bills and splitting the money with vendors -- including Bansal, who submitted them, court documents allege.

Bansal is a former city employee and founder and chief executive of Advanced Integrated Technologies. 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.

The arrests and allegations have cast a shadow on Kundra, who is the first to hold the White House CIO position. Prior to his appointment, Kundra served as the chief of the D.C. technology office, and the accused offenders worked under him.

Officials in the D.C. government say they don't believe Kundra is a target of the investigation, but he is on leave until the investigation moves further ahead.

An FBI affidavit indicates that several other businesses and individuals were involved in the alleged schemes, but they're identified only by their initials. According to court documents, 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.

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