Ex-Democratic staffer indicted on four charges

WASHINGTON—A federal grand jury indicted Imran Awan, a former information technology staffer for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., on four charges Thursday, including conspiracy, bank fraud, and unlawful monetary transactions. In February, Awan was one of five shared Democratic House aides investigated for stealing equipment. Other lawmakers immediately fired the staffers, but Wasserman Schultz decided to retain Awan on her payroll until July. She didn’t dismiss Awan until law enforcement arrested him on July 24 on a separate bank fraud charge at Washington’s Dulles International Airport, where he was attempting to fly to Pakistan. The grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicted both Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, also a former aide to House Democrats. The charges allege Awan and Alvi attempted to obtain home equity lines of credit on rental properties they never lived in. The indictments then allege they transferred the funds obtained from those home equity lines of credit to individuals in Pakistan. The charges do not appear to directly relate to their work in Congress, but they renew the scrutiny for Wasserman Schultz for retaining Awan long after her colleagues fired him. Wasserman Schultz, the former head of the Democratic National Committee, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel earlier this month she did the right thing by retaining Awan as an employee and would do it again.