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Report: Obama's CIO May Have a Criminal Record

Vivek Kundra, the popular and accomplished IT manager appointed by President Barack Obama to the office of Federal CIO, may have a minor theft charge from 1997.

On Tuesday morning, Silicon Valley gossip site Valleywag used public records to match Kundra's former address in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to the address listed in a public case record for a Vivek Kundra who pleaded guilty in 1997 to an unspecified theft of less than US$300. Valleywag has a screenshot of the case record.

The Vivek Kundra listed in the case pleaded guilty and received what's called a probation before judgement. As explained by the Maryland Lawyer Blog, a PBJ is generally not considered a conviction.

Kundra is already wrangling with the fallout from another, much larger criminal case brought against a former employee. Last Thursday, FBI agents raided Kundra's former office at the District of Columbia's IT department. Kundra wasn't a target of the raid. A former subordinate of his, Yusuf Acar, has been charged with bribery.

The FBI has made clear that Kundra is not implicated in the bribery case, but Kundra has taken leave from his federal gig to keep President Obama's administration from being dragged into the mud.

If the theft charge turns out to be his, it may force the resignation of a man who once made Infoworld's Top 25 CTO's list, a manager widely regarded as being uniquely qualified to tackle the supersize office politics of America's federal IT departments.

If it's not him, we'll all look stupid.

Note: The Industry Standard has asked the White House press office for comment, and will update the story if and when it responds.

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