HOUSE OVERSIGHT 030103 until he secured his release by turning over his passport. According to the lawsuit, Bajwa tried to resolve the situation but was told Scudder's passport would be released and he could leave the country only if InfoSpan gave up ownership and control of SpanCash to the bank. Six months later, the bank withdrew the fraud accusations and Scudder got his passport back, but SpanCash's reputation was tarnished and it collapsed, Bajwa previously told The Times. The bank disputed that it acquired InfoSpan's source code or used it at any time. Former White House counsel and an attorney for the bank, Kathryn Ruemmler, said that Emirates never would have acquired source code in a joint-partnership deal like the one reached with InfoSpan. She said such technology would instead be held by a third-party escrow company for the length of the partnership. In her closing arguments, the partner with global firm Latham & Watkins told the jury that Bajwa and InfoSpan sold the bank a "bill of goods," arguing that despite promises to Emirates, the technology never worked and InfoSpan wasn't as big a company as it claimed. The bank cancelled the deal and filed a criminal complaint, not as a form of extortion but simply to regain the bank's money after it was misled and doubts grew about the character of InfoSpan's employees, Ruemmler told the jury. "They concluded, definitively, that they had been defrauded," she said. Lubna Qassim, group general counsel for Emirates Bank, said in a statement after the verdict that "Emirates Bank is gratified by today's decision and the opportunity to receive a fair trial in U.S. courts." Bajwa said the trial has taken a toll on him and he doesn't know his next steps. "I am just beat up," he said. Phil Hirschkorn contributed to this report. andrew.khouriglatimes.com<mailto:andrew.khouriglatimes.com> Copyright 0 2016, Los Angeles Times<http://www.latimes.com/> Frank Pizzurro Public Relations Senior Manager L