LiquidMethod
Ex-Bluelighter
This story (surprise!) is not getting much airtime on the mainstream media, even though it potentially dwarfs Watergate.
Since 2005, Imran Awan (born in Pakistan) provided IT services for now-former DNC chairwoman and current Florida Democrat Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz - in addition to a large number of other representatives, as he has worked on Capitol Hill since the early 2000s. Not long after he began providing IT-related services to Congress, his brother Abid (2005), and the wives of Imran & Abid Awan (Hina Alvi & Natalia Sova) also started receiving congressional paychecks (2007). In 2014, 20-year old Jamal Awan was also placed on the congressional payroll, making a surprisingly high $160,000 annually (normally staffers make around $40,000).
Since July 2009, the Awan family was paid at least $4-5 million for their government works as "shared" congressional employees. Standing rules prevent staffers from making more than actual members of Congress - adding no-show family members circumvents this.
In 2012, Awan declared bankruptcy.
Feb 2, 2017 - Awan brothers are barred from House of Rep computer networks.
In May 2017 it was reported that Imran Awan's wife Hina Alvi removed the couple's children from school, listed several of their American properties for sale and fled to Pakistan as the criminal investigation became public.
May 18, 2017 - Wasserman-Schultz spent several minutes during a Capitol Police budget meeting berating and later threatening Capitol Police chief Matthew Verderosa over unreturned equipment related to the Awan investigation. Only July 19th, 2017 it was reported that investigators have been unable to examine contents of the equipment to which Wasserman-Schultz was referring. After months of refusals to cooperate, Wasserman-Schultz is reportedly "negotiating" with Capitol Police over whether she will allow them access to the equipment. During her time as DNC chairwoman, DWS also refused to allow the FBI to examine the supposedly-hacked DNC servers.
In July, The Daily Caller reports that a Marine Corps Officer that was renting one of Awan's properties found "wireless routers, hard drives that look like they tried to destroy, laptops." The report continued with the Marine alleging that Imran even threatened to sue the new renter in a desperate attempt to get back the hard drives and the equipment in question. It was turned over to the authorities.
July 24th, 2017, Imran Awan was stopped at Dulles airport after the FBI noticed that he had purchased a ticket to Pakistan via Qatar. Awan was charged with bank fraud related to fraudulently taking out mortgages for rental property, despite claiming they were for a primary residence. The affidavit does not mention anything relating to the Congressional IT investigation. While the bank fraud allegations are incredibly serious, it appears these charges were filed to prevent him from leaving the country. The affidavit noted that on January 18, Awan pretended to be his wife and attempted to wire $283,000 to Pakistan.
Awan family members are currently under investigation by Capital Police after it was discovered that congressional information was being funneled to an off-site server and equipment had been stolen. The suspects had full access to the emails and sensitive documents of dozens of congressional members who employed them - including multiple members of homeland security, foreign affairs and intelligence committees. Apparently 80 different House Democrats had a member of the Awan family on their payroll as an IT employee at one time or another.
It has been reported that several IT companies offered their services to Congress at significantly reduced rates compared to the pricey Awan family - yet they were repeatedly turned down, sparking concerns of potential blackmail. Given the reluctance of many Democrats to fire the suspects as questionable information about their background became known, blackmail concerns may hold water.
Wasserman-Schultz refused to fire Imran until after he was arrested, more than five months after Capitol Police revoked the Awans' access to the congressional IT system and it was clear a significant investigation was taking place. Wasserman-Schultz simply changed Awan's role to an "advisor" to circumvent the Capital Police's computer network ban and keep him on the payroll.
Imran Awan was arraigned. "plead not guilty and was released pursuant to a high-intensity supervision program. The conditions of release are that he receive a GPS monitor, he abide by a curfew of 10pm to 6am, and that he not leave a 50-mile radius of his residence in Virginia. Awan was also ordered to turn over all of his passports". Imran Awan's lawyer is Chris Gowen, a longtime associate of both Bill & Hillary Clinton.
Since 2005, Imran Awan (born in Pakistan) provided IT services for now-former DNC chairwoman and current Florida Democrat Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz - in addition to a large number of other representatives, as he has worked on Capitol Hill since the early 2000s. Not long after he began providing IT-related services to Congress, his brother Abid (2005), and the wives of Imran & Abid Awan (Hina Alvi & Natalia Sova) also started receiving congressional paychecks (2007). In 2014, 20-year old Jamal Awan was also placed on the congressional payroll, making a surprisingly high $160,000 annually (normally staffers make around $40,000).
Since July 2009, the Awan family was paid at least $4-5 million for their government works as "shared" congressional employees. Standing rules prevent staffers from making more than actual members of Congress - adding no-show family members circumvents this.
In 2012, Awan declared bankruptcy.
Feb 2, 2017 - Awan brothers are barred from House of Rep computer networks.
In May 2017 it was reported that Imran Awan's wife Hina Alvi removed the couple's children from school, listed several of their American properties for sale and fled to Pakistan as the criminal investigation became public.
May 18, 2017 - Wasserman-Schultz spent several minutes during a Capitol Police budget meeting berating and later threatening Capitol Police chief Matthew Verderosa over unreturned equipment related to the Awan investigation. Only July 19th, 2017 it was reported that investigators have been unable to examine contents of the equipment to which Wasserman-Schultz was referring. After months of refusals to cooperate, Wasserman-Schultz is reportedly "negotiating" with Capitol Police over whether she will allow them access to the equipment. During her time as DNC chairwoman, DWS also refused to allow the FBI to examine the supposedly-hacked DNC servers.
In July, The Daily Caller reports that a Marine Corps Officer that was renting one of Awan's properties found "wireless routers, hard drives that look like they tried to destroy, laptops." The report continued with the Marine alleging that Imran even threatened to sue the new renter in a desperate attempt to get back the hard drives and the equipment in question. It was turned over to the authorities.
July 24th, 2017, Imran Awan was stopped at Dulles airport after the FBI noticed that he had purchased a ticket to Pakistan via Qatar. Awan was charged with bank fraud related to fraudulently taking out mortgages for rental property, despite claiming they were for a primary residence. The affidavit does not mention anything relating to the Congressional IT investigation. While the bank fraud allegations are incredibly serious, it appears these charges were filed to prevent him from leaving the country. The affidavit noted that on January 18, Awan pretended to be his wife and attempted to wire $283,000 to Pakistan.
Awan family members are currently under investigation by Capital Police after it was discovered that congressional information was being funneled to an off-site server and equipment had been stolen. The suspects had full access to the emails and sensitive documents of dozens of congressional members who employed them - including multiple members of homeland security, foreign affairs and intelligence committees. Apparently 80 different House Democrats had a member of the Awan family on their payroll as an IT employee at one time or another.
It has been reported that several IT companies offered their services to Congress at significantly reduced rates compared to the pricey Awan family - yet they were repeatedly turned down, sparking concerns of potential blackmail. Given the reluctance of many Democrats to fire the suspects as questionable information about their background became known, blackmail concerns may hold water.
Wasserman-Schultz refused to fire Imran until after he was arrested, more than five months after Capitol Police revoked the Awans' access to the congressional IT system and it was clear a significant investigation was taking place. Wasserman-Schultz simply changed Awan's role to an "advisor" to circumvent the Capital Police's computer network ban and keep him on the payroll.
Imran Awan was arraigned. "plead not guilty and was released pursuant to a high-intensity supervision program. The conditions of release are that he receive a GPS monitor, he abide by a curfew of 10pm to 6am, and that he not leave a 50-mile radius of his residence in Virginia. Awan was also ordered to turn over all of his passports". Imran Awan's lawyer is Chris Gowen, a longtime associate of both Bill & Hillary Clinton.
