A federal grand jury returned an indictment last week against a Virginia couple in a credit union fraud case that has captured the national media spotlight because the accused formerly worked for Democratic House members, including Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
According to the indictment, Imran Awan and Hina Alvi of Lorton, Va., allegedly conspired to fraudulently obtain $285,000 in home equity lines of credit from the $913 million Wright Patman Congressional Federal Credit Union and Oakton, Va., and wire transferred the HELOC funds to Pakistan.
Awan and his family members have been under investigation by the U.S. Capitol police for alleged theft of computers, unauthorized access to computer networks and espionage, according to national media reports.
During the closing for the HELOC on Jan. 12, Alvi allegedly misled CFCU by saying she intended to use a home on Sprayer Street in Alexandria as her primary residence even though she was leasing the property to another person for seven months. On that same day, Alvi again allegedly misled the credit union by saying she intended to use a second home on Hawkshead Drive in Lorton as her second home even though she was renting it to two people with a lease agreement that began in February and ended July 31, 2021, according to court documents.
Because of the higher risk, the credit union’s policy is not to approve HELOCs for rental properties.
After the HELOC funds were transferred to Alvi’s CFCU checking account, she and Awar went to a CFCU branch to initiate a wire transfer of $283,000 to two individuals in Faisalabad, Pakistan. A wire transfer specialist later called Alvi to complete the overseas transaction.
Federal investigators said the person who answered the call was a male who pretended to be Alvi and initially said the wire transfer was for funeral arrangements. After the CFCU representative stated that funeral arrangements was not an acceptable reason for the wire, Awan allegedly said he would look online for an acceptable reason for the wire. After a long pause, he said the reason for the wire was buying property. The representative accepted that reason and initiated the wire transfer for Pakistan.
Awan’s lawyer, Christopher J. Gowen of Washington, D.C., has said there is nothing nefarious behind the wire transfer. CFCU has declined to comment on the case.
Nevertheless, this case has drawn national media attention because Awan had been employed as an IT specialist for House of Representatives, including Democratic House members such as Wasserman Schultz. Awan’s wife, brothers and a friend reportedly did similar IT work for the House. Awan was fired by Wasserman Schultz shortly after he had been arrested by federal authorities while he was waiting to board a flight to Pakistan at Dulles International Airport.
In March, Alvi flew to Pakistan with her three children. Before she was allowed to board the flight at Dulles, however, the FBI and U.S. Capitol police searched her luggage that contained household goods, clothing, food items and $12,400 in cash, according to court documents. Alvi booked a return flight to the U.S. for September, but it’s doubtful whether she will return to the U.S., according to federal investigators.
Awan and his family members have been under investigation by the U.S. Capitol police, which began more than six months ago following allegations by unnamed House lawmakers that the Pakistani-Americans were allegedly involved in theft of computers, unauthorized access to computer networks and espionage, according to the New York Times. However, these reports have been mostly published by conservative news outlets, the newspaper reported, which questioned whether the U.S. Capitol police probe was the “stuff of a spy novel, ripe for sleuthing and criminal prosecution or simply an overblown Washington story, typical of midsummer.”
The Capitol police investigation is reportedly ongoing.
