Indicted Pakistani couple strikes deal

WASHINGTON: The Pakistani origin couple indicted by a federal grand jury on at least four counts of conspiracy against the United States here late August has struck a deal with the authorities.

The couple identified as Imran Awan and his wife Hina Alvi had worked for various members of Congress as their Information Technology aides. “Defendants Awan and Alvi did unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly conspire, combine, confederate, and agree with each other to commit offenses against the United States,” the indictment stated.

Imran Awan was arrested by the FBI on July 24 when he tried to flee to Pakistan. Awan’s wife, Hina Alvi, had already left for Pakistan with their children in March. She was first stopped for carrying more than 12,000 dollars in cash but was later let go. The FBI found out that Awan had already wired almost 300 thousand dollars to Pakistan.

Hina Alvi has now struck a deal with prosecutors that would allow her to return to the US and face the charges. According to documents available with The News, the government has requested the court to "summon defendant [Hina] Alvi to appear for her arraignment."

Alvi will have to surrender her passport upon returning from Pakistan. "Defendant Alvi will turn-in her passport when she returns to the United States, and that she will not seek to book any international travel following her appearance in the United States," the documents said. Alvi, through her counsel, has indicated that she does not oppose the request. The counsel added that Alvi has offered to self-surrender and will be returning by the end of this month.

Hina and Imran had access to emails and computer data of hundreds of lawmakers and staffers; and made millions of dollars. Almost every lawmaker who had hired Alvi and Awan had fired them when the federal investigation opened up, except Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Awan remained on Schultz payroll until his arrest in July.