Just an update...
Quote:Wasserman Schultz IT Staffer Banned From House Network Months Ago Still Has Active Account.SOURCE:
'A former IT aide suspected of stealing equipment and data from Congress still has an active,
secret email account on the House computer system, even though he has been banned from the
congressional network because of a criminal investigation into the alleged cybersecurity violations,
The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.
Imran Awan’s still-active email address is linked to the name of a House staffer who specializes
in intelligence and homeland security matters for Indiana Democratic Rep. André Carson.
Court documents and emails obtained by TheDCNF show Awan used the address 123@mail.house.gov
in addition to his standard imran.awan@mail.house.gov account.
He and two of his Pakistani-born brothers, as well as his wife, are at the center of an FBI investigation
over their IT work with dozens of Democratic congressional offices.
Authorities shut down Awan’s standard email account Feb. 2, and he was arrested by the FBI at Dulles
International Airport trying to board a flight to his native Pakistan on July 25.
Authorities apparently did not realize Awan has a second account that is not linked to his identity.
While his main email address began rejecting mail after it was shut down, the 123 address was still
accepting mail Tuesday.
Mail sent via Gmail fills in the name of the account-holder of 123 as Nathan Bennett, whose LinkedIn
profile says his individual legislative portfolio covers “national security and foreign affairs” and
includes work on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
The member Bennett works for, Carson, is a member of both the House Intelligence and House
Homeland Security Committees, and previously employed Awan.
Carson is ranking member of the House intelligence subcommittee on emerging threats, which
oversees the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The subcommittee oversight extends
to the National Counterterrorism Center and information-sharing programs.
A spokeswoman for Carson, Jessica Gail, did not express concern or surprise when contacted by
The DCNF about Awan’s still-active email address Monday morning. Bennett said Tuesday morning
Gail had not even informed him of the details.
Bennett, who is Carson’s deputy chief of staff, told TheDCNF he has no control over the 123 address.
“However this happened, it was not with my consent or control,” he said in an email. “For the record,
I do not, nor have I ever, had control of the 123@mail.house.gov email account or any other account
connected with Imran Awan or his family.”
That could not be confirmed by the House’s chief administrative officer (CAO) because spokesman
Dan Weiser has said “the CAO will not comment on matters pertaining to this ongoing investigation.”
Bennett’s response raises questions about whether Awan was misusing Carson’s office, access or
staffers.
Gail declined to comment on Awan, or state whether the office is concerned he may have misused
Bennett’s identity. She also declined to state whether the office has taken any measures to assess
its data security since Awan’s problems came to the attention of the office in September 2016.
Carson had employed Awan since 2015, and did not fire him when his office learned Awan was the
subject of an investigation in September. He also did not fire Awan immediately after he was banned
from the House computer network by Capitol Police in February.
Of the 13 House Democrats who employed Awan, only two — Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and
Rep. Marcia Fudge — waited longer than Carson to fire him after the red flags emerged, payroll
records show.
Gail directed TheDCNF to the House Information Resources Office (HIR). “Our office has no control
over House email addresses,” she said. “Those are controlled through the House Information
Resources office. Any questions regarding the 123@mail.house.gov address should be directed
to that office.”
Until last year, email addresses were created by individual offices, but now members have to request
HIR to set up new addresses. Carson’s office is not showing any concern that an indicted IT guy
apparently set up a secret email address using the name of his deputy chief of staff, who is also his
top intelligence staffer, and that the account is still active.
Since the account was still accepting emails as of Tuesday afternoon, it appears Carson’s office
has not alerted anyone of the security vulnerability.
A Democratic IT aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of job concerns, told The DCNF
that Awan and Carson used to play video games together in Carson’s office, and that he had been
teaching Carson a foreign language. Gail did not dispute either claim.
Court documents and testimony from others back up Awan’s use of the 123 address.
A landlord mentioned the address in a claim he filed against Awan for unpaid rent at an apartment
called Morningside. “He told me that he worked for the House of Representatives, his email is
123@mail.house.gov,” the landlord said in Fairfax, Va., court records show.
Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, owned four houses and collected $330,000 annually in congressional
salaries. It’s unclear why he would be paying rent on the Morningside apartment.
His stepmother, Samina Gilani, claims Awan had two wives under Islamic law -both in Virginia -and
that he “kept” his second wife in a place she knew as “Morningside.”
The DCNF did not independently verify her account.
Gilani said the second wife’s name is Sumaira Sidiq, also spelled Saddiq, and that Awan divorced
her the same month that court records say he stopped paying rent on Morningside.
The DCNF visited the apartment, but no one responded to a knock on the door.
After The DCNF contacted tenants of a single-family home involved in an alleged mortgage fraud for
which Awan has been indicted, a past renter, Laurel Everly, provided TheDCNF with email
correspondence with Awan at the 123 address.
Everly described Imran Awan as a highly aggressive landlord who threatened to sue her if she didn’t
pay for damage to the basement caused by natural flooding and a broken sump pump. She claimed
he broke an air conditioner by installing a part incorrectly and then demanded that she buy him a new
one. She also said he “charged me $350 for not gardening.”
“He’s a really bad guy, he laid the pressure on so heavily,” she told TheDCNF. “He absolutely is capable
of trying to extort money. … He presents himself well — a clean-cut articulate man — but when he turns
snake, I can’t think for a minute that he didn’t turn dishonest in his work [in Congress].”...'
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