Big A turns big guns on CityTime fraud officials

Investigators probing the massive, fraud-ridden New York City CityTime payroll system involving SAIC are widening their focus to staffers within Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, according to a NYC tabloid.

Federal and city investigators probing the massive, fraud-ridden CityTime payroll system are widening their focus from the private contractors who allegedly ripped off the project to staffers within the Bloomberg administration, the July 6 issue of the New York Post reports.

“Authorities are poring over e-mails and work records from the city's Office of Payroll Administration. And prosecutors are pressuring those connected with the scandal to rat on government staffers tied to what has become, according to critics, the single biggest problem of Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg's two-plus terms in office,” the newspaper reported.

Nine people have been indicted so far, the Post said.

Carl Bell, the project’s main systems engineer, who was fired by Science Applications International Corp. in January, pled guilty June 14 and in a plea agreement with federal prosecutors is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

SAIC project manager Gerard Denault was indicted in June, and Bloomberg last week formally requested a $600 million refund from SAIC.