Former D.C. Government Employee Sentenced to Prison in Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme
One of Two Defendants Sentenced Today

WASHINGTON—Yusuf Acar, the former acting Chief of Security Officer for the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), was sentenced today to two concurrent terms of 27 months in prison for his role in a bribery and kickback scheme. The sentence, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Shawn Henry, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Charles J. Willoughby, Inspector General for the District of Columbia.

Acar, 41, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty on December 18, 2009 before the Honorable Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. to a two-count information that charged him with bribery and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.

During his guilty plea, Acar admitted that, between September 2005 and March 12, 2009, he accepted bribes on at least 59 occasions from Sushil Bansal, who owned a company called Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation (AITC). Bansal paid Acar a total of $558,978.50 in bribe payments during this time. Acar also admitted to engaging in 17 transactions, each over $10,000, that involved the bribe money and which utilized financial institutions.

In addition to the 27-month prison term, Judge Kennedy ordered Acar to pay $558,978.50 in restitution. He will be on supervised release for three years after serving his sentence.

“The residents of the District of Columbia deserve an ethical government with ethical employees, and have the right to know that their money is being spent honestly and for the public good,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “The prison sentence in this case should send a strong message to any public official who may be tempted to accept a bribe or kickback that we will not tolerate corruption.”

Acar has been held without bond since March 2009.

Bansal, 43, of Dunn Loring, Virginia, pled guilty in April 2010 to federal charges, as did his company. He was sentenced August 6, 2010 to two concurrent 20-month prison terms. He and his company were ordered to pay $844,765.50 in restitution to the District of Columbia government. He will be on three years of supervised release once he gets out of prison.

Earlier today, a second OCTO employee was sentenced to prison for his role in the scheme. Farrukh Awan, 38, of South Riding, Virginia, was sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay $156,807 in restitution. He also must forfeit $46,647.50 as part of the sentence. He will be placed on three years of supervised release once his prison sentence is completed. Awan pleaded guilty in November 2009 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Henry, and D.C. Inspector General Willoughby commended the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Special Agent Teddy Clark and the late Special Agent Lloyd Hodge of the D.C. Office of the Inspector General. They also acknowledged the efforts of U.S. Attorney’s Office paralegals Diane Hayes, Tasha Harris and Maggie McCabe, former legal assistant Lisa Robinson, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Hibarger and Glenn Leon, who prosecuted this case.