by TChris

Robert J. Stein Jr. was a contracting official for the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-controlled entity that ran Iraq for more than a year after the president's "mission accomplished" declaration. Stein helped bring a culture of corruption to the CPA. He's scheduled to enter a guilty plea today to charges that he conspired with Philip Bloom and others to steal reconstruction money and to enrich his friends while pocketing more than a million dollars.

Stein, who has an earlier federal fraud conviction, used the money he stole or was paid by Bloom to buy a single-engine Cessna airplane, a top-of-the-line Porsche and other cars, grenade launchers, machine guns, diamond rings and other jewelry, and property in North Carolina, he said in his signed statement. Stein said he helped steer more than $8.6 million in contracts to companies controlled by Bloom, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Romania for many years.

Bloom also faces conspiracy and money laundering charges. Court documents indicate that five "U.S. Army Reserve officers also have been implicated in the theft and kickback scheme."