by WorldTribune Staff, July 25, 2017
A Pakistani-born IT specialist working for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, was arrested Monday at Dulles Airport while trying to leave the country.
Fox News reported the arrest of Imran Awan on bank fraud charges .
Awan has been in the news this week after reports by WorldTribune.com and the Daily Caller Foundation that he repeatedly tried to get back smashed hard drives that were seized by the FBI.
A spokesman for Wasserman Schultz’s office told Politico in March that Awan worked for the staff in an “advisory” role.
Related: IT tech for key Democrats ‘desperately’ sought return of smashed hard drives taken by FBI, July 24, 2017
Wasserman Schultz, who resigned as chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in July 2016 after the committee’s IT system was hacked, had refused to fire Imran despite learning that he is a target of a criminal investigation.
Feds/USCP picked up Imran Awan at Dulles Aiport last night as he was “trying to leave the country.” Has been arraigned. Surrendered passport
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017
A military family is now the renting the home that Awan hastily abandoned in February.
The FBI has joined what Politico previously reported as a Capitol Police criminal probe into “serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network” by Imran and three of his relatives, a source in Congress with direct knowledge of the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Daily Caller Foundation.
Imran moved out of his longtime home in Lorton, Virginia shortly after the criminal probe was revealed in February. He 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, said “they left in a huge hurry. It looks like government-issued equipment. We turned that stuff over.”
Wasserman Schultz has demanded return of a laptop seized by the Capitol Police because it was purportedly used by Imran and was found hidden in a vacant office. The Florida Democrat used a Capitol Police budget hearing to threaten “consequences” for them if the laptop wasn’t returned.
The Marine said Imran wanted the hard drives back so desperately that he threatened to sue the renter for stealing them.
“It was unbelievable. I don’t know where they get off thinking they’re going to sue us for items we have no obligation to hold onto,” he said.
Imran came to the house for the items “three to four times,” but the Marine wouldn’t let him enter.
“I served in the Marine Corps for 14 years; if I downloaded files to an off-site server, I’m going to prison for a lot of years,” the Marine said.
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