Former Democrat IT Aide Reaches Deal, Will Return to U.S.

Former Democrat IT Aide Reaches Deal, Will Return to U.S.

The Washington Examiner reported that Hina Alvi, the former Democrat IT aide that fled to Pakistan after coming under a federal investigation, has struck a deal with authorities and will return to the states.

Alvi is married to Imran Awan. Both of them worked as IT aides to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). Authorities arrested Awan on bank fraud charges at Dulles airport in July.

From The Washington Examiner:

A document filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicates that federal prosecutors have struck a deal with Alvi that would allow her to return to the U.S., but would also require her to surrender her passport and afterwards not book any international travel. The deal only surrounds how Alvi will turn herself in, and is structured so that she can avoid being arrested in front of her children when she returns to the U.S., “during the last week of September 2017.”

In February, reports surfaced that five House employees face an investigation for breaching House IT systems and stealing equipment. Media named Alvi, Abid, Imran, and Jamal in reports the following days, but I have not found the name of the fifth person. Lawmakers fired the four when the suspicions arose and barred the brothers “from computer networks at the House of Representatives.”

Alvi gathered her two daughters with Awan and fled to Pakistan, which gave her protection. The Daily Caller reported in May:

“I came to know from one of their relatives that Hina Alvi and her daughters are moved to Pakistan, Hina Alvi saying ‘we have moved here in Pakistan permanently,’” the Awans’ stepmother, Samina Gilani, told TheDCNF.

Two other sources close to the family, who requested anonymity because they believe it is a “national security issue,” also said that Hina has gone to Pakistan.

Gilani said in court documents the Awan brothers have convinced Pakistani officials that they are VIPs and travel the country with a police motorcade — an assertion that seemingly gives them a major incentive to seek protection there, as well as raising questions about how the computer jockeys obtained that status.

The Daily Caller discovered that the two of them withdrew their daughters from school right after the investigation started. Gilani told the publication that Imran often “’boasted he had many contacts in USA and Pakistan also. He also said that if [I called even] the whole United States police on them,’ he would not face consequences, Gilani told TheDCNF. ‘Imran Awan threatened that he is very powerful’ and would use that power to have people kidnapped in Pakistan, she said in court documents.”

Authorities arrested Awan at Dulles at the end of July after he wired almost $300,000 to Pakistan. Politico reported that he faces accusations “of attempting to defraud the Congressional Federal Credit Union by obtaining a $165,000 home equity loan for a rental property, which is against the credit union’s policies since it is not the owner’s primary residence.” At his arraignment, he pled not guilty “to one count of bank fraud.”

A grand jury indicted Awan and Alvi on four counts last month. From Fox News:

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.

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