The Weird Case Against Wasserman’s I.T. Guy
July 29, 2017 at 3:18 a.m.
By Gary [email protected]
But the case of Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s I.T. guy is some pretty bizarre stuff.
Last February, five Congressional staff members were accused of stealing equipment from members’ offices and committing serious if not downright illegal violations on the U.S. House of Representatives information technology network.
Right after that, it was reported that at least four of the accused staff members came from the same family.
They were Imran Awan and his wife, Hina Alva; and brothers Abid Awan and Jamal Awan.
Imran started working in Washington back in 2004 as the I.T. director for U.S. Robert Wexler, who represented Florida’s 9th District as a Democrat from 1997 to 2010.
Imran has worked for at least 25 other House Democrats since then in various part-time I.T. roles.
According to reporting in the National Review, soon after Imran began working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, his two brothers and two of their wives — plus Abbas and another friend — began appearing as I.T. staffers on the payrolls of other House Democrats. Collectively, the Awan group has been paid $4 million since 2009.
Authorities have been looking into how Awan may have double-billed the House for stuff like computers, iPads, monitors, keyboards and routers.
After the investigation was launched, Imran was fired by everybody with the exception of Wasserman Schultz, even though computer equipment was confiscated from Wasserman Schutz’s office as part of the investigation. She kept him on even though he was no longer allowed access to the House server network because of the investigation.
Then in May, Wasserman Schultz got testy with Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa in a public hearing. She wanted to know why her computers were confiscated even though she wasn’t being investigated.
“Under my understanding, the Capitol police are not able to confiscate a member’s equipment when the member is not under investigation,” Wasserman Schultz said. “It is their equipment and it is supposed to be returned.”
According to reporting in the Miami Herald, Verderosa told Wasserman Schultz he couldn’t return the equipment without the permission of the investigating agency.
Wasserman Schultz shot back:
“I think you are violating rules when you conduct your business that way and you should expect that there will be consequences,” she said.
Imran was arrested Monday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia attempting to board a flight to Pakistan. He was arrested on bank fraud charges. Authorities say Imran and his wife are accused of lying about a housing equity loan. They got $165,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union using a rental property for collateral. The money was then wired to Pakistan, court documents allege.
The Herald reported Imran pleaded not guilty to the bank fraud charges and was released into a high-intensity supervision program. That program requires him to use a GPS monitor, abide by a curfew, and not travel more than 50 miles from his home. He was also ordered to turn over all of his passports.
Awan’s lawyer told the Herald the case was “part of a frenzy of anti-Muslim bigotry” and that Awan has no intention of leaving the U.S. to avoid the bank fraud charges and the investigation.
A fellow congressional I.T. staffer told The Daily Caller some of the computers the Awans managed were being used to transfer data to an off-site server.
And this from The Daily Caller:
Shortly after the criminal probe was revealed in February, Imran abruptly moved out of his longtime home on Hawkshead Drive in Lorton, Va., and listed it for rent on a website that connects landlords with military families.
One of the new tenants — a Marine Corps veteran married to a female Navy Officer — said he found “wireless routers, hard drives that look like they tried to destroy, laptops, [and] a lot of brand new expensive toner.”
The tenants called the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and, not long after, FBI agents arrived together with the Capitol Police to interview them and confiscate the equipment. The Marine spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns for his wife’s naval career, saying she doesn’t want to be associated with a national security incident.
“It was in the garage. They recycled cabinets and lined them along the walls. They left in a huge hurry,” the Marine said. “It looks like government-issued equipment. We turned that stuff over.”
Fox News reported this week that Wasserman Schultz is expected to start cooperating with federal investigators on the case, after months of stonewalling.
Fox says she plans to allow federal investigators to scan the confiscated laptop.
U.S. Capitol Police have had the laptop for months and until now had been unable to get access because Wasserman Schultz was legally battling them over it. Seems her lawyers and the Capitol Police have reached some sort of agreement.
Now, there may be a perfectly innocent and logical explanation for all of this.
But what is really telling to me is how little the national media have been covering this story.
The main TV networks have no time for it. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.
But allow me to speculate.
Let’s say Republicans in Congress hired a bunch of foreign nationals to run their I.T. for them. Let’s say those I.T. folks overbilled for their services and downloaded government files to an offsite server. Let’s say those I.T folks smashed what appear to be government hard drives in their home and then abruptly tried to leave the country after scamming a credit union. Finally, let’s say a Republican Congressman like, say, House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy, was demanding the return of his computer that was confiscated as part of the probe and then finally relented and allowed investigators to scan it.
Do you suppose the national media would be interested in that story? Do you suppose there would be endless speculation and reportage on the sinister nature of these incidents.?
I think we all know the answers.
But the case of Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s I.T. guy is some pretty bizarre stuff.
Last February, five Congressional staff members were accused of stealing equipment from members’ offices and committing serious if not downright illegal violations on the U.S. House of Representatives information technology network.
Right after that, it was reported that at least four of the accused staff members came from the same family.
They were Imran Awan and his wife, Hina Alva; and brothers Abid Awan and Jamal Awan.
Imran started working in Washington back in 2004 as the I.T. director for U.S. Robert Wexler, who represented Florida’s 9th District as a Democrat from 1997 to 2010.
Imran has worked for at least 25 other House Democrats since then in various part-time I.T. roles.
According to reporting in the National Review, soon after Imran began working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, his two brothers and two of their wives — plus Abbas and another friend — began appearing as I.T. staffers on the payrolls of other House Democrats. Collectively, the Awan group has been paid $4 million since 2009.
Authorities have been looking into how Awan may have double-billed the House for stuff like computers, iPads, monitors, keyboards and routers.
After the investigation was launched, Imran was fired by everybody with the exception of Wasserman Schultz, even though computer equipment was confiscated from Wasserman Schutz’s office as part of the investigation. She kept him on even though he was no longer allowed access to the House server network because of the investigation.
Then in May, Wasserman Schultz got testy with Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa in a public hearing. She wanted to know why her computers were confiscated even though she wasn’t being investigated.
“Under my understanding, the Capitol police are not able to confiscate a member’s equipment when the member is not under investigation,” Wasserman Schultz said. “It is their equipment and it is supposed to be returned.”
According to reporting in the Miami Herald, Verderosa told Wasserman Schultz he couldn’t return the equipment without the permission of the investigating agency.
Wasserman Schultz shot back:
“I think you are violating rules when you conduct your business that way and you should expect that there will be consequences,” she said.
Imran was arrested Monday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia attempting to board a flight to Pakistan. He was arrested on bank fraud charges. Authorities say Imran and his wife are accused of lying about a housing equity loan. They got $165,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union using a rental property for collateral. The money was then wired to Pakistan, court documents allege.
The Herald reported Imran pleaded not guilty to the bank fraud charges and was released into a high-intensity supervision program. That program requires him to use a GPS monitor, abide by a curfew, and not travel more than 50 miles from his home. He was also ordered to turn over all of his passports.
Awan’s lawyer told the Herald the case was “part of a frenzy of anti-Muslim bigotry” and that Awan has no intention of leaving the U.S. to avoid the bank fraud charges and the investigation.
A fellow congressional I.T. staffer told The Daily Caller some of the computers the Awans managed were being used to transfer data to an off-site server.
And this from The Daily Caller:
Shortly after the criminal probe was revealed in February, Imran abruptly moved out of his longtime home on Hawkshead Drive in Lorton, Va., and listed it for rent on a website that connects landlords with military families.
One of the new tenants — a Marine Corps veteran married to a female Navy Officer — said he found “wireless routers, hard drives that look like they tried to destroy, laptops, [and] a lot of brand new expensive toner.”
The tenants called the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and, not long after, FBI agents arrived together with the Capitol Police to interview them and confiscate the equipment. The Marine spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns for his wife’s naval career, saying she doesn’t want to be associated with a national security incident.
“It was in the garage. They recycled cabinets and lined them along the walls. They left in a huge hurry,” the Marine said. “It looks like government-issued equipment. We turned that stuff over.”
Fox News reported this week that Wasserman Schultz is expected to start cooperating with federal investigators on the case, after months of stonewalling.
Fox says she plans to allow federal investigators to scan the confiscated laptop.
U.S. Capitol Police have had the laptop for months and until now had been unable to get access because Wasserman Schultz was legally battling them over it. Seems her lawyers and the Capitol Police have reached some sort of agreement.
Now, there may be a perfectly innocent and logical explanation for all of this.
But what is really telling to me is how little the national media have been covering this story.
The main TV networks have no time for it. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.
But allow me to speculate.
Let’s say Republicans in Congress hired a bunch of foreign nationals to run their I.T. for them. Let’s say those I.T. folks overbilled for their services and downloaded government files to an offsite server. Let’s say those I.T folks smashed what appear to be government hard drives in their home and then abruptly tried to leave the country after scamming a credit union. Finally, let’s say a Republican Congressman like, say, House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy, was demanding the return of his computer that was confiscated as part of the probe and then finally relented and allowed investigators to scan it.
Do you suppose the national media would be interested in that story? Do you suppose there would be endless speculation and reportage on the sinister nature of these incidents.?
I think we all know the answers.
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