Lawyer For IT Aide Says Dem Congressmen To Blame For Falsified Spending Records

Daily Caller ^ | 10/4/17 | Luke Rosiak

[markomalley]

House Democrats ordered the systematic falsification of records showing how they spend their taxpayer-provided office budgets, according to lawyers for two former House information technology (IT) aides.

It’s a remarkable accusation that pits sitting lawmakers against the former aides, Imran Awan, his brothers Abid and Jamal, and his wife Hina Alvi. Imran was arrested in July while trying to board a flight to Pakistan, and then indicted on four counts of bank fraud involving moving money to that country. Imran and Hina, who was also indicted, face a court date Friday.

One of Imran’s lawyers, Aaron Page, acknowledged the invoicing discrepancy Aug. 21, telling The Daily Caller News Foundation, “This is just how things have been done for forever. This is what experienced members of Congress expect: to expedite things, they adjust the pricing.”

If members or senior staff instructed IT aides to misrepresent how budgets were spent, that could potentially explain why officials have not charged the Awans with crimes related to procurement, even a full year after House authorities gathered documentation showing invoices that claimed expensive technological items cost $499 instead of their true price: potentially an open-and-shut violation.

“The only reason you’re not seeing charges is because the Democrats who employed him are not cooperating,” a senior Republican congressional official with direct knowledge of the probe told TheDCNF last month.

He was initially surprised by seeming recalcitrant to enforce House rules, the official said, and eventually saw it as supporting the idea that members might fear that an investigation into rogue staffers could ultimately implicate members or senior staffers in procurement misconduct.

House-wide administrators take a periodic inventory of all equipment over $500, but items listed as less than that amount can more easily go missing. The difference in the price was made-up to the vendor, CDW Government, by wrongly inflating the cost of a “service plan.” The cost for the equipment’s service plans did not count toward triggering any internal tracking. Service plans are costs associated with support in case something breaks.

Some of the equipment was shipped to the Awans’ homes, and many pieces of equipment could not immediately be produced when investigators asked to see it, the senior congressional official told TheDCNF.

An allegedly lackadaisical approach is especially troublesome because procurement violations are not the only focus of the probe into the Awans. The Washington Post reported that investigators found the crew accessed a server 5,400 times without authorization and transferred “massive” data off of the House network. Democrats are potentially letting Imran get away with security breaches to keep the procurement issues from being looked into, the senior official told TheDCNF.

“We will never know the amount of penetration these guys had unless [the offices] do the right thing and come forward,” the official said. Collectively, the Awans and their friend Rao Abbas ran IT for one in five House Democrats, and had access to all their files.

The Washington Post reported Sept. 17 that Abid Awan’s attorney, James Bacon, responded to a question about why orders were falsified to show amounts less than $500 by saying, “In a fluid situation you do what you’re ordered to do.” Any missing equipment, Bacon said, “disappeared after it was brought to the folks who were demanding it. … It sounds to me like there’s a lot of scapegoating here.”

Christopher J. Gowen, one of Imran’s lawyers, added in The Washington Post: “There’s nothing that Imran did that wasn’t requested by one of his clients on House staff.”

Members’ muted response is difficult to square with the fact that Democrats were the ones whose data was in jeopardy and that they have spoken passionately about the importance of cybersecurity, particularly in the context of Russia. Fifteen of the 17 female members of Congress tied to the Awans would not even express concern to TheDCNF when provided with police reports showing multiple women called the cops on Imran, with one saying she felt “like a slave.”

TheDCNF first revealed the details of the long-running procurement issues Aug. 20, including that Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York did not immediately fire Abid after learning that $120,000 of equipment was missing from her office. Her chief of staff instead filed papers to remove the equipment from the inventory, and did not alert authorities or fire Abid until House administrators contacted the office months later to say they would be reviewing that Awans’ actions.

When TheDCNF asked for comment before publication of that story, Gowen replied, “Not one thing you have reported has been even remotely true.” The day after the story ran, Page, one Imran’s lawyers working alongside Gowen, acknowledged, “I certainly wouldn’t say everything is false,” and blamed House members and their staffs.

“That was Chris being Chris and generalization… This is obviously part of the original thing that police are looking into,” he told TheDCNF.

As it relates to the $120,000 write-off, “It had to do with an outgoing chief of staff who — I don’t remember the guy’s name off the top of my head but I think there was potentially some issues there,” Page said, referring to Shelley Davis, Clarke’s outgoing chief of staff, who would have signed off on purchase orders.

“There may be cases on Capitol Hill of other people — certainly not Imran — who are enriching themselves who are taking devices or abusing expense accounts,” Page said. “Potentially, part of that inventory reflects irresponsible practices by other people but none of it was in Imran’s hands. ”

Clarke and Davis have both declined to explain.

Court records suggest Davis has had money problems, and the Awans have also had major financial issues, with Abid declaring bankruptcy and other family members struggling to get cash together involved in a major land deal in Pakistan.

Members were aware an investigation into the Awans would include the purchase order issue, Page said. “It is part of Capitol Hill’s initial investigation and I think they told a bunch of members of Congress that right around when they fired everybody,” he told TheDCNF.

He also blamed CDW Government, a major government contractor that provided the equipment in question. The senior House official said an employee for the company agreed to alter the invoices at Imran’s request. The company said it is cooperating with prosecutors but that it does not expect to be charged with a crime.”The biggest vendor that provides 80-100 percent of technology on Capitol Hill was part of this,” Page told TheDCNF.

Falsifying purchase orders didn’t “expedite” purchasing items– it just made it easier for them to disappear, the senior congressional official said.

Page would not explain how it was a matter of convenience: “I don’t understand or I’m not going to get in the details of it because I need to look at my notes, but it basically goes back to the idea that it expedites the process to adjust the pricing between the way things are listed.”

Asked how his client altering invoices wasn’t a crime, Page replied, “I’m not going to comment whether the practice is in violation of X or Y or Z regulation on the Hill.”

He expressed confidence that they won’t be charged with procurement fraud, despite the existence of vouchers. “It will be proven false if we have to prove it false,” he said. “And I don’t expect we’ll have to.”

The Sept. 17 WaPo article reported, “As of Sept. 1, 2016, there had been 34 purchases totaling nearly $38,000 ‘where the costs of the item was manipulated to obtain a purchase price of $499.99,’ according to the document. There were $799 iPads and a $640 television on the list, records show. Most of that equipment was left off the official House inventory, investigators found. And investigators found that some of it had been delivered to the homes of the Awan brothers, according to a person familiar with the investigation.”

The senior congressional official told TheDCNF 34 invoices are only the “tip of the iceberg,” and that not all the offices’ paperwork had been reviewed. He expressed surprise that the members wouldn’t have wanted to scour their paperwork on their own to help find evidence of wrongdoing by a rogue staffer.

A list of members who employed the Awans is below.

(chart at the link)

[doug from upland]

Lots and lots of crimes here. Clean out the RATS.

[SteveH]

the list

Gregory Meeks (D-NY)

Robert Wexler (D-FL)
Left office 2010

Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Left office 2017

Chris Bell (D-TX)
Left office 2004

Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH)
Left office 2008

Jim Costa (D-CA)

Hilda Solis (D-CA)
Left office 2009

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)

[stylin19a]

ping

[blueunicorn6]

The Democrats sold out The United States.

[gubamyster]

Xavier Bacerra is the current AG of CA & has the balls to sue the Trump Administration every chance he can get.

[mass55th]

"Her chief of staff instead filed papers to remove the equipment from the inventory, and did not alert authorities or fire Abid until House administrators contacted the office months later to say they would be reviewing that Awans’ actions."

The Chief of Staff covered up the discrepancies, not wanting to look bad, or he/she was in on the deal. It reminds me of the shop teachers at the prison I worked. We (correctional staff) would find a screw driver, or other sharp tool while frisking common areas in the facility. Lo! and behold! we'd discover that this tool's ID linked it to a specific classroom, and teacher. When we'd go to check the shadow board in that teacher's room, we'd find a brand new screwdriver hanging where the lost one had previously been. Did they ever report missing tools? Hell no! They were too embarrassed to admit a tool that could be used as a weapon went missing on their watch. They'd simply go out, and buy the same tool at a hardware store, and hang it in the empty spot. No matter how many times you'd tell these civilians about the importance of tool control, they never followed protocol.

[Henchster]

When you know how Congress works, and by that I mean the way EVERYTHING they do is a payoff to themselves at taxpayer expense, it is easy to figure out exactly what was going on.

First, you have to know that a modern laptop or desktop computer costs a fraction of what they did 25 years ago. Back when Congress decided its members needed taxpayer-supplied computer equipment, they wrote in a substantial expense allowance into the annual budget. (Remember budgets?)

Now, fast-forward 25 years, and while computers and printers cost way less, if you know how Congress works they NEVER reduce any spending of any kind, so, yep, the IT budget allowances are still at the higher rate.

Now, how to tap into this slush fund? First, circumvent the inventory control rules to make a majority of the budget allowance non-inventory. Second, hire yourself some sleazy lackey to procure, re-sell, and launder the money. (Awan)

Problem is, they hired a REALLY sleazy muzzie who besides ripping off a bunch of the non-inventory equipment, also downloaded all their classified data to sell to ISIS.

Now they are stuck defending the guy's scams to protect their own decades-long scam.

[Robert357]

Well time to lock those Congressmen/women up and toss away the key.

[bitt]

awan ping

[blueplum]

kind of hard to claim victim when it’s a person’s responsibility to report any overpayments or incorrect payments on their federal disbursements - foreign resident or not.

[jiggyboy]

Looks like the wife got immunity and is starting to sing, as many here suggested would happen. Ain’t gonna end well for some Dems.

[Liz]

ANNOUNCING THE FIRST CONTEST OF ITS KIND:
Who is the Stupidest Member of Congress?
CAST YOUR VOTE HERE

When asked about his IT employee, Rao Abbas, Missouri Democrat Emmanuel Cleaver said, “Who? I don’t even know him.” Cleaver stupidly added that his chief of staff put Abbas on Cleaver's payroll apparently without Cleaver's knowledge or consent.

Also unknown to him? Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, at one point, had five of the six members of the Awan group, including Rao Abbas, on his House payroll....all cashing US govt paychecks.

Rao got fired from McDonald's but Abbas mysteriously got on Cleaver's US govt payroll as an IT and got paid $85,049 tax dollars in 2016.

OTHER NOMINEES FOR STUPIDEST: Besides Cleaver, Rao Abbas was also on the House payroll of (A) former Florida Democrat Cong Patrick Murphy, and (B) Democrats Cong Charlie Crist of Florida and (C) Jacky Rosen of Nevada, who took office in January.

NOTE: Some observers say they never saw Rao on the job in Congress.

[Liz]

Who is the Stupidest Member of Congress?
CAST YOUR VOTE HERE

Among the top viscerally stupid Democrats in Congress: Democrat NY Cong Yvette Clarke. Imran got her to order expensive tech equipment for her office delivered to his home.

Cong Clarke unblinkingly agreed to all of this. She then approved a $120k "write-off" of the purchases thus making the money and the devices just disappear.

<><>The tax-paid devices tied to NY Democrat Cong Yvette Clarke’s office included some 150 iPhones and iPads.

<><> Priced at $800 each, Democrat Cong Clarke's $120,000 write-off would buy 150 devices.

<><> Cong Clarke's office, according to payroll records, has only 16 employees. Taxpayers might ask why Cong Clarke needed so many electronics for her small staff?

Democrat Cong Clarke's office refused to tell a reporter which staffer signed the form, and why they did not fire the Paki IT at that time, or why they did not alert authorities (not reporting knowledge of a crime IS a crime).

Taxpayers should be aware that Cong Yvette Clarke’s chief routinely called a House help desk to inquire about the write-off process but did not ever convey the highly unusual scale of the dollar figure, the official said.

Stupidly signing off on a falsified invoicing scheme, the equipment Democrat Yvette Clark ordered (then wrote-off) got shipped ..... not to the Congressional office...... but to Imran’s private residence.

Voters for The Stupidest Member should be aware that Democrat Yvette Clark (or high-level staffer with financial responsibility in her office) would have to sign a voucher for each such purchase.

Taxpayers may undoubtedly wonder how Democrat Yvette Clark wouldn’t have noticed (A) that tech equipment was being purchased, (B) in large quantities Democrat Clarke might not plausibly need, (C) but never actually materialized at Cong Clarke's office.

Cong Yvette Clarke describes herself as a "Caribbean-American."

[kelly4c]

bookmark

[Liz]

MEMORY LANE---The House banking scandal
SOURCE Wikipedia

The House banking scandal broke in early 1992, when it was revealed that the United States House of Representatives allowed members to overdraw their House checking accounts without risk of being penalized by the House bank (actually a clearinghouse).

This is also sometimes known as Rubbergate (from the expressions "rubber check" (bounced check) and "Watergate)". The term is misleading because House checks did not bounce; they were honored because the House Bank provided overdraft protection to its account holders, the Office of the Sergeant at Arms covered the House Bank with no penalties.[1] It was also sometimes known as the "check-kiting scandal".

SNIP

The scandal contributed to a perception of corruption and malfeasance and was a contributing factor to major changes in the House, in which 77 Representatives resigned or were ousted in the 1994 election.[3] Four ex-Congressmen, a Delegate, and the former House Sergeant at Arms were convicted of wrongdoing as a result of the investigation that followed.[4]

Among these, former Rep. Buz Lukens (R-OH) was convicted on bribery and conspiracy charges. Former Rep. Carl C. Perkins (D-KY) pleaded guilty to various charges including a check kiting scheme involving several financial institutions including the House Bank. Former Rep. Carroll Hubbard (D-KY) pleaded guilty to three felonies. The former Sergeant at Arms, Jack Russ, pleaded guilty to three felonies.[5]

The House Bank functioned according to rules different from the laws governing deposit institutions. The facility was operated under very loose rules at the time, using a pencil and ledger system rather than a computerized accounting system, and the bank manager did not provide regular account statements to House members, nor were notifications sent to House members in the event they had overdrawn their accounts.

Further contributing to the problem was the fact that the House Bank did not post deposits in a timely manner, often as much as seven weeks after the fact. Thus, while some knowingly took advantage of the system (and were ultimately convicted of wrongdoing)[citation needed] many members of the House who wrote overdrafts were not actually at fault, as it was the House Bank's responsibility to post deposits in a timely manner.

Another practice which contributed to the scandal was that House members were allowed to overdraw their accounts, provided that the overdraft did not exceed the member's next paycheck. Many House members used this practice to take unauthorized advances on their paychecks which they would repay in the future. In a corporate context the practice of drawing money out of the corporation's accounts for personal use is a violation of fiduciary duty to the corporation's shareholders.

Many U.S. banks, like the House Bank, offered overdraft protection to checking account holders. However, the overdrafts in a regular bank's overdraft protection program are always secured by either a line of credit with the bank extended under standard lending protocols (including interest charges, if any), linkage of the protected checking account to another account with the necessary funds to pay the overdraft, such as a savings account, or charges made to a credit card held by the depositor.[6]

Prior to and during the House Bank overdraft scandal, the security for the overdrafts in the House Bank was the Member of Congress' next paycheck, as posted to his or her checking account in a pencil ledger system. In the aftermath of the House Bank overdraft scandal, two federal credit unions, one for the House and one for the Senate now provide banking services to Members of Congress and the general public, with no special treatment for Members of Congress.

These credit unions existed long before the scandal. However, the Office of the House Sergeant-at-Arms had offered a much more convenient clearing house for Members of Congress' checks, and overdraft protection was managed in a much more lenient (and less expensive) manner than through the credit unions or, for that matter, any chartered bank.[7]

In the early days of the scandal, when the media began reporting on the loose practices, Republican Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, along with 7 freshman Republicans referred to as the Gang of Seven or "The Young Turks", made the strategic decision to publicize the scandal in an attempt to sweep congressmen with overdrawn accounts, most of them Democrats, out of power; Gingrich himself had 22 overdrawn checks, one a $9,463 check to the Internal Revenue Service.[8] Jim Nussle, one of the Gang of Seven, came to national attention when he made a speech from the well of the House while wearing a paper bag over his head to protest the "shameful" ethical behavior involved in the scandal.[9]

Gingrich pressured the then Speaker of the House Tom Foley to ensure that the special counsel appointed to investigate the matter informed the voting public of the overdrafts and the identities of all of the Congressmen responsible.[10]

[Liz]

(HAT TIP HENCHSTER) How Congress works: they NEVER reduce spending of any kind, so, their tax-paid IT budget allowances are still at the higher rate even though tech equipment is much cheaper.

Now, how do they tap into this slush fund?

<><> First, they circumvent the House inventory control rules to make a majority of the tax-paid budget allowance non-inventory.

<><> Second, they hire some sleazy lackey to procure, re-sell, and launder the money. (Awan)

Problem is, they hired a REALLY sleazy muzzie who, besides ripping off a bunch of the non-inventory equipment, also downloaded all their classified data to sell to ISIS.

Now the Democrat members are between a rock and a hard place:
stuck having to defend their IT guy's scams to protect their own decades-long scam.

[Jacquerie]

Good summary. Personal power and wealth trump all other concerns. They are traitors, but will never see justice. Two Americas. Over the course of a long life, I’ve gone from full faith and confidence in our government, to no faith, no respect, no confidence and emotions bordering on hatred. I used to scoff at Freepers calling for lamppost solutions, but the rule of law is gone. Welcome the rule of men and all of its attendant violence. /rant.