Plea Hearing Set for Virginia Couple’s CU Fraud Case

A July plea hearing will be held in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. for a Virginia couple in a credit union fraud case that captured national media headlines because the accused formerly worked for Democratic House members, including Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and former chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Imran Awan and Hina Alvi of Lorton, Va., allegedly conspired to fraudulently obtain $285,000 in home equity lines of credit from the $964 million Wright Patman Congressional Federal Credit Union and Oakton, Va., and then wire transferred the HELOC funds to Pakistan.

Awan and other IT aides have been under investigation by the U.S. Capitol police for alleged double-billing, theft of computers, and access to sensitive computer systems, according to national media reports. However, no charges have been filed, and it is unknown whether the plea deal will have any implications for House Democrats.

However, President Donald Trump wrote in one of his Tweets last week that called on the Department of Justice not to let Awan & Wasserman Schultz “off the hook.” Trump claimed, without evidence, that Awan agreed to a plea deal to “hide what is on their Server,” referring to the DNC server.

During the closing for the $165,000 HELOC on Jan. 12, 2017, 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 to secure a second $120,000 HELOC 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, 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 for $283,000 to two individuals in Faisalabad, Pakistan. A wire transfer specialist later called Alvi to complete the overseas transaction.

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.

Court documents also show that Alvi applied for and received a $202,859 financial hardship withdrawal from her retirement savings plan for U.S. civil servants. Although she said the retirement money would be used to pay medical expenses, the funds were actually used to pay off one of the CFCU HELOCs and to pay down another HELOC at PNC Bank.

This case has drawn national media attention because Awan had been employed as an IT specialist for Wasserman Schultz. Awan’s wife, brothers and a friend reportedly did similar IT work for House Democrats.

Awan was fired by Wasserman Schultz in July 2017 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 but she returned in October to face the felony charges of bank fraud, conspiracy, false statements on a credit applications and unlawful money transactions. Awan was charged with the same felonies.