BUZZFLASH: Former U.S. official admits he smuggled more than $2 million out of Iraq, laundered $8.6 million in reconstruction contracts. 2/4

Says he smuggled millions out of Iraq, laundered money in three countries

The Associated Press

Updated: 8:16 p.m. ET Feb. 2, 2006

WASHINGTON - A former U.S. occupation official in Iraq pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to steal more than $2 million and rigging bids on $8.6 million in reconstruction contracts.

Robert J. Stein, 50, of Fayetteville, N.C., admitted that he and his coconspirators smuggled millions of dollars out of Iraq into the United States aboard commercial airliners and laundered cash through multiple bank accounts in Switzerland, Amsterdam and Romania.

Stein was a Defense Department employee who served as a contract official for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, controlling more than $82 million in funds slated for rebuilding the Middle Eastern country.