The Justice Department “is massively pissed at me,” he said in the interview with Bloomberg News. At his sentencing for wire fraud, a U.S. judge called the theft “an egregious breach of trust” by someone displaying “less than genuine remorse.”

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on Gourevitch or the investigation. Gourevitch said that he’s willing to help in any way he can, hoping for a reduced jail sentence.

“I did not come to Kyrgyzstan to rob the country blind,” he said. “As cliché as this will sound, I at least would like to be able to look my daughter in the eyes when she grows up and explain” that “her father was not a terrible person.”

His offer is the latest development in a long-running tale of alleged corruption involving former Kyrgyzstan president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his son Maksim. The family, which took control of Kyrgyzstan in 2005 in a revolt known as the Tulip Revolution, was once seen as an ally of the U.S. in fighting terrorism.

The regime was overthrown in 2010, though, and the new government later convicted both Gourevitch and Maksim Bakiyev of corruption-related crimes in absentia. Bakiyev was convicted of embezzling more than $130 million in state funds. Among other crimes, Gourevitch was convicted of taking part in the illegal sale of a fuel depot. Gourevitch says the court proceedings were not legitimate.

Bakiyev, who now lives in Surrey, a posh county carved out of the rolling hills south of London, didn’t respond to a letter mailed to his residence or to requests for comment made through his lawyers. His father lives in Belarus, where the president granted him protection.

Gourevitch, a husky, round-faced man who sports a bushy beard and glasses, was born in Moscow, moving to San Francisco in 1990 with his mother after his parents divorced. He became a U.S. citizen a few years later and by 1999 had earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of California-Berkeley.

Investment Bank

In 2008, after working as a New York-based international business consultant, Gourevitch joined with partners, including Maksim Bakiyev, to establish a Kyrgyz investment bank.

Over time, Gourevitch told investigators, he became aware of “massive” bribery schemes benefiting Bakiyev, including skimming money from government projects to accepting bags stuffed with cash.