Investigative Group

Imran Awan Allegedly Tried ‘To Hide His Money’ While DOJ Negotiates With Him

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  • Former Democratic IT staffer Imran Awan allegedly tried to “hide his money” recently.
  • Awan’s lawyer claims his client “does not have a pot to piss in.”
  • Awan is currently under FBI investigation over “unauthorized access” House servers and is indicted on charges of bank fraud.

Embattled former Democratic IT aide Imran Awan has as recently as weeks ago attempted to get someone to create an LLC to hide the ownership of real estate, and two people to buy a $40,000 gold bar for him, sources told The Daily Caller News Foundation. This while his lawyer has told The Daily Caller News Foundation that Imran “doesn’t have a pot to piss in.”

“He is totally unable to work and does not have a pot to piss in,” Imran attorney Chris Gowen wrote in a Feb. 27 email to TheDCNF.

Imran, who along with wife Hina Alvi worked as a server administrator for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has been the target of an FBI investigation since the House Inspector General alleged in September 2016 that he made “unauthorized access” to House servers and systematically falsified congressional financial records. Prosecutors have charged Imran and Alvi with bank fraud related to a House retirement account and a mortgage after the FBI said Imran impersonated his wife and initiated a $300,000 wire transfer to Pakistan, claiming it was for a funeral.

Investigators say the alleged congressional fraud may extend to millions of dollars. The FBI is in possession of hundreds of “Suspicious Activity Reports” detailing unusual transfers from Imran’s bank accounts, officials said.

“This is a national security issue… He should have been locked up in jail a long time ago with all his family members,” Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican who serves on the Committee on the Judiciary, told TheDCNF after it briefed him on the latest findings. “Anybody that’s hiding assets by buying gold bars and trying to get people to set up LLCs, who knows what else is going on. If he’s going to those lengths there are a lot of assets here,” he said. “How much of this do [prosecutors] know? They should.”

On May 3, prosecutors said they were “currently exploring a possible resolution of this matter.”

“I can’t understand why [prosecutors would strike a plea deal], unless he’s not the biggest fish in the school,” King told TheDCNF.

The allegations add another colorful twist to a story that already includes the suspect leaving a laptop with the username RepDWS in a phone booth after he was banned from the House network; an arrest at Dulles airport with a suitcase full of cash; and the disappearance of the entire House Democratic Caucus server.

Disappearing money would be key because Republican House officials close to the probe say that not only did huge quantities of House technology equipment disappear, they suspect Imran ran a $7 million “ghost employee” scheme where no-show employees — one of whom had been most-recently worked at McDonald’s — were added to the House payroll as IT administrators.

In a deposition, Imran’s stepmom — who was interviewed by the FBI — said the bureau asked her where the money was going(RELATED: Abid Awan Knew Witness Emailed FBI; She Says She’s Been Wiretapped, Robbed, Threatened)

A source told TheDCNF the purpose of the new LLC Imran wanted them to create was to hold assets, including real estate, but that the assets would remain under Imran’s control.

The Awans owned numerous homes that operated as rental properties. TheDCNF interviewed most of the tenants, and all said the Awans demanded rent in the form of cash or blank money orders.

Virginia licensing documents show that Imran became a licensed real estate broker during the time period he was earning $160,000 from Congress. The licensing process requires certifying that the applicant was working “an average of at least 40 hours per week” as a real estate agent at the time. Brokers typically supervise real estate agents and handle large amounts of money.

Two sources said that in recent weeks, Imran has discussed providing third parties with money and having them travel to New York City to buy and return with a 1-kilogram gold bar. “He wants to hide his money,” one source said in relation to the gold.

Those alleged requests occurred just weeks before Awan’s next scheduled court date, on June 7.

Imran wears a court-ordered GPS ankle bracelet and is required to stay close to home– a restriction his lawyer has repeatedly  asked prosecutors to lift.

At least 14 limited liability companies have previously been registered to immediate family members or to the addresses of the Awan family’s residences. Those included companies such as New Dawn 2001, registered to Imran’s elderly mother-in-law. It is unclear what the “New Dawn” in 2001 was; the company was created in 2011.

Gowen, Imran’s attorney, said he had “no idea” what the companies did.

The companies also include multiple purported car dealerships, for which no physical presence could be located, that were registered to Imran brother Abid Awan’s Ukranian wife, Nataliia Sova, who was also on the House payroll. Another car dealership that did have a physical presence, registered to Abid, took $100,000 from an Iraqi government official, Abid’s business partner Nasir Khattak testified in a civil suit.

On mandatory House ethics disclosures, the Awans — who were subject to restrictions on outside income — did not report any outside companies. LLCs associated with members of the Awan family or their addresses include:

Name Contact Address Date
New Dawn 2001 Hina Alvi; Imran Awan; Suraiya Begum 9667 Hawkshead Dr 07/29/11
Westmind Enterprise LLC Abid Awan 6924 Little River Tpke Ste C 11/02/10
Acg LLC Suraiya Begum 9667 Hawkshead Dr 06/28/11
Discover EZ Car Buying Co Nataliia Sova 7110 Falcon St 07/22/14
Regional Car Center Inc. Nataliia Sova 7110 Falcon St 03/23/15
Alain LLC Nataliia Sova 7110 Falcon St 04/28/09
Cars International A LLC Abid Awan 7110 Falcon St 10/07/09
Cars International LLC Abid Arfan Awan 624 S Washington Street 01/28/08
Awantech LLC lmran Awan 6314 Thomas Dr 09/27/06
lntl Sufi Educational Org Muhammad Awan 6314 Thomas Dr 04/29/10
Winfield Builder Corp Muhammad Ashraf Shah; Sampson T Winfield 6314 Thomas Dr 04/14/14
Express Services Corp Sampson Winfield 6314 Thomas Dr 01/27/12
A Winfield & Associates Corp Sampson T Winfield 6314 Thomas Dr 03/27/14
Winfield Real Estate Corp Sampson T Winfield 6314 Thomas Dr 03/27/14

Editor’s Note:

The Daily Caller, Inc., the Daily Caller News Foundation, and Luke Rosiak have settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Imran Awan, Abid Awan, Jamal Awan, Tina Alvi, and Rao Abbas (“the Plaintiffs”), in the D.C. Superior Court, Awan et al. v. The Daily Caller, Inc. et al., No. 2020 CA 000652 B (D.C. Super.) (“The Lawsuit”).
 
The Plaintiffs filed the Lawsuit in 2020, alleging that they were defamed by statements made by The Daily Caller entities and Mr. Rosiak, including statements in Obstruction of Justice, a 2019 book authored by Mr. Rosiak and published by Regnery Publishing, a business of Salem Media Group, Inc., about the Plaintiffs’ work for the U.S. House of Representatives. In response, The Daily Caller entities and Mr. Rosiak each denied liability and contested the Plaintiffs’ claims. 
 
None of the Defendants has admitted to any fault as part of this settlement. Nevertheless, The Daily Caller entities and Mr. Rosiak recognize that no charges have ever been filed against the Plaintiffs relating to their congressional IT work.

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