Wasserman Schultz' ex-IT aide indicted on 4 counts



Imran Awan, a former IT aide for Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was indicted Thursday on four counts including bank fraud and making false statements.

The indictment also includes his wife Hina Alvi.

The grand jury decision in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia comes roughly a month after Awan was arrested at Dulles airport in Virginia trying to board a plane to Pakistan, where his family is from.

Awan and other IT aides for House Democrats have been on investigators’ radar for months over concerns of possible double-billing, alleged equipment theft, and access to sensitive computer systems. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Schultz had kept him on until his arrest in July.

The indictment itself, which merely represents formal charges and is not a finding of guilt, addresses separate allegations that Awan and his wife engaged in a conspiracy to obtain home equity lines of credit from the Congressional Federal Credit Union by giving false information about two properties – and then sending the proceeds to individuals in Pakistan.

The case has put renewed scrutiny on Wasserman Schultz for keeping Awan on the payroll for months, even after a criminal investigation was revealed and he was barred from the House IT network.

Awan and other family members for years had a lucrative arrangement for IT-related work on Capitol Hill for House Democrats. According to The Daily Caller, the members of the Pakistani family made at least $4 million since 2009.

In a recent interview published in the Sun Sentinel, Wasserman Schultz blamed the “right-wing media circus fringe” for the attention on Awan.

Russia, Russia, Russia!
The former head of the Democratic National Committee suggested it's all part of an effort to distract from the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and possible ties to President Trump's team.

“Any opportunity they can to pull people’s eyes and ears away from that they take,” Wasserman Schultz told the newspaper.

Her colleagues in Congress, though, say there are serious security implications in her former staffer's case.

“We have to investigate how our systems may have been compromised,” Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., recently told “Fox & Friends.”

Though Awan was barred from the IT network, Wasserman Schultz’ spokesman David Damron told Fox News their office worked with the House Chief Administrative Officer to arrange for the employee to keep providing “valuable services without access to the House network.”

Awan, 37, of Virginia, earlier pleaded not guilty to a single count of bank fraud.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/08/17/wasserman-schultz-ex-it-aide-indicted-on-4-counts.html

hope they roll him over,if he's still alive several months from now!
People have a propensity to fall down Stairs and break their Necks when remanded for Investigation!

Yeah, this has been posted before, and it STILL doesn't prove anything that the Anti Democrats want to pretend it does. The only thing proven so far, is that THIS GUY did these illegal things.

The case goes on. Remember, if you want to set a policy of jailing anyone and everyone connected to someone who does wrong, the entire Republican AND Democratic and even Tea Party representative bodies will all have to go into the slammer.

yes... trump calls it the cleaning of the swamp... if they are doing illegal things, send them away...

for example?

Here are 10 things we know right now about the scandal.

1. Awan was arrested after wiring $283,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union to Pakistan. Officials charged him with defrauding the credit union of $165,000 by lying on a home equity loan application.

2. Awan worked as an IT staffer for Wasserman Schultz, who is a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Awan’s wife, Hina Alvi – who left for Pakistan earlier this year with their children –was one of several Awan relatives who were on the payroll of Democrats as IT professionals in the House. Together, they were paid about $4 million in taxpayer funds since 2009.

3. Awan is a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen. He had access to emails and files of many Democrats in Congress. He even had the password to the iPad that Wasserman Schultz used for DNC business until she resigned from the DNC in July 2016.

4. In a public hearing in May, Wasserman Schultz actually badgered the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police about computer equipment scooped up in the investigation of Awan and his relatives. The Daily Caller reports that Wasserman Schultz told the chief: “I think you’re violating the rules” for keeping the computer equipment as part of the Awan investigation. She also told the chief to “expect there will be consequences” for “conduct[ing] your business that way.” Still, Wasserman Schultz kept Awan on her staff until he was arrested – even though his access to the congressional computer system was revoked in February.

5. As the news broke of Awan’s arrest, the law firm representing him – Gowen Rhoades Winograd & Silva – criticized his accusers. One statement from the law firm says: “The attacks on Mr. Awan and his family began as part of a frenzy of anti-Muslim bigotry in the literal heart of our democracy, the House of Representatives. For months we have had utterly unsupported, outlandish, and slanderous statements targeting Mr. Awan coming not just from the ultra-right-wing “pizzagate” media but from sitting members of congress. Now we have the Justice Department showing up with a complaint about disclosures on a modest real estate matter.”

6. Wasserman Schultz has been avoiding the media, but her office responded to questions from the media with a statement: “After details of the investigation were reviewed with us, my office was provided no evidence to indicate that laws had been broken, which over time, raised troubling concerns about due process, fair treatment and potential ethnic and religious profiling. Upon learning of his arrest, he was terminated.”

7. Though both Wasserman Schultz and Awan’s attorneys are trying to disparage those chasing this story as being guilty of “anti-Muslim bigotry,” the FBI actually seized smashed hard drives from Awan’s home. Also, investigators say Awan and others might have stolen computer equipment from members’ offices and might have done illegal things on the House IT network.

8. Awan also allegedly funneled sensitive congressional data offsite in what some are calling a massive cyber-security breach.

9. This investigation has been ongoing since last February; however, even before Capitol Police began their investigation of Imran Awan and his relatives – including his brothers Abid and Jamal and their wives – there were a lot of red flags that should have alerted Capitol Police. Jamal Awan, for example, had an annual salary of $157,000, or about three times what the average IT staff member was paid in the House, according to InsideGov. Meanwhile, Abid Awan had a salary of $161,000 and Imran Awan was being paid $165,000.

10. Recently Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), who is member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, discussed the scandal on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News. He asked: “Why were these people paid what they were paid – $4 million over a number of years?” He added that “in my office we spend about $1,500 a month for IT support (from contactors). But then they had access to the files of members of Congress who were serving on key committees.”

DeSantis also said: “Congress needs to know how this happened and what damage has been done. We have a responsibility to protect the House. The possibility that sensitive congressional information was compromised requires Congress to examine this matter.”

Nothing to see here. Russia, Russia, Russia!

yep,as Elmer would so aptly exclaim:"The Wascally Wussians did it"!