Pentagon background check failure Former U.S. Official in Iraq to Plead Guilty t 

Pentagon background check failure Former U.S. Official in Iraq to Plead Guilty t

By JAMES GLANZ
A former American occupation official in Iraq is expected to plead
guilty to bribery. money laundering and other charges in
federal court on Thursday for his actions in a scheme to use sexual
favors. jewelry and millions of dollars in cash to steer reconstruction
work to a corrupt contractor. according to papers filed with the court.

served as a comptroller and funding
officer in 2003 and 2004 for the Coalition Provisional Authority. which
governed Iraq after the American-led invasion. Four Americans.
including Mr. Stein and the contractor. have been
arrested in the case. Mr. Stein's plea. apparently with the
understanding that he will cooperate with prosecutors. is the first to
be made public.

The court papers depict a sordid exercise in greed and corruption that
was spread much more widely that previously known. Including the four
people already arrested. the papers indicate that a minimum of three
other still unnamed co-conspirators also played a role in the scheme.
In order to give more than $8 million in contracts and millions more in
stolen cash to Mr. Bloom. the conspirators accepted
bribes. valuable goods and other favors.

Two of the Americans already arrested. Lt. Col. Debra Harrison and Lt.
Col. Michael Wheeler. are senior Army reserve officers. The court
papers indicate that the remaining unnamed co-conspirators are also
Army reserve officers. for a total of at least five officers involved.
But the papers suggest that others. identified only by opaque
designations like "person H." may also have been involved in one way or
another.

The goods included first-class plane tickets. watches and other
jewelry. alcohol and cigars. the court papers say. They add that Mr.
Bloom kept a villa in Baghdad where women dispensed "sexual favors" in
exchange for official actions in his favor or for refraining from
exposing the scheme.

Mr. Stein is accused of stealing outright at least $2 million in cash
of American taxpayer money and Iraqi money that had been set aside for
the reconstruction of Iraq by the American occupation. He also accepted
more than $1 million in bribes and at least $600.000 of additional
goods and cash that were the property of the C.P.A..
The actions took place in a vast territory surrounding the Iraqi city
of Hilla. where Mr. Stein was put in charge of at
least $82 million of reconstruction money despite a previous conviction
for felony fraud. which his Pentagon background check apparently
missed. Mr. Bloom and some of the others wired money back to the United
States to buy weaponry like grenade launchers and machine guns that Mr.
Stein was prohibited from owning because of his conviction or that were
illegal in themselves.

The court papers indicate that Mr. Stein has agreed to plead guilty in
Federal District Court in Washington to counts of conspiracy.
money laundering conspiracy. a felon in possession of a firearm and
possession of a machine gun.

The e-mail exchanges between Mr. Stein and Mr. Bloom. as detailed in
the papers. are remarkable in their illustration of the daily business
of apparently greed and graft. "I love to give you money. as he began steering work on an Iraqi police
academy to Mr. Bloom.

Mr. Stein warns Mr. Bloom about others who are threats
to expose their scheme or may want to get in on it themselves. "I will
warn you to be very careful what you say around him. about someone identified only as person D. "If he
ever knows what we are doing he will want 'his cut!
Other exchanges show the day-to-day realities of doing business in Iraq
with Westerners who are far from the routine pleasures of home. "Thanks
for the booze." Mr. Stein wrote on Jan. 27. "That will give me some
bargaining material here and there."




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