The Awan brothers

Luke Rosiak is an investigative reporter for The Daily Caller. He filed this story on April 30, but now these brothers are creeping into the news.

A former congressional information technology (IT) aide allegedly threatened to have his stepmother’s Pakistani relatives kidnapped if she talked to U.S. law enforcement authorities, according to court documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation’s (TheDCNF) Investigative Group.

“Imran Awan threatened that he is very powerful and if I ever call the police again, [he] will … kidnap my family members back in Pakistan,” Awan’s stepmother, Samina Gilani, claimed in the documents filed April 14 in Fairfax County, Va., in the case of Americo Financial Life and Annuity Insurance Company v. Abid A. Awan and Samina Ashraf Gilani.

Imran Awan and his brothers Abid and Jamal are under criminal investigation by U.S. Capitol Police on suspicion they abused their administrator-level access to sensitive congressional data, as reported Feb. 4 by TheDCNF.

“Imran Awan did admit to me that my phone is tapped and there are devices installed in my house,” including one Gilani claimed in the court filing to have seen “behind the printer.” She also claimed Imran Awan represents himself in Pakistan as a powerful person in Congress and is given police escorts when he spends time in the country.

Gilani has said she was left homeless after Abid Imran forced her to leave the house she previously shared with her husband. Fairfax County land records show Abid owns two residences.

The three brothers, plus two of their wives, were employed on a shared basis by dozens of Democratic members of the House of Representatives, including members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on Homeland Security.

The Awans’ IT jobs gave them access to congressional computer networks, including members’ email accounts. They were also linked with an Iraqi politician who is a fugitive from U.S. authorities and who has been linked to the Hezbollah terrorist group in the Middle East.

Authorities terminated the three brothers’ access to House IT systems Feb. 2. Politico reported March 1 that Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and New York Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks declined to fire Imran, and that both members have a “friendly personal relationship with Awan and his wife, according to multiple sources.”

Americo said Muhammad Shah took out a $50,000 life insurance policy in 2012, naming Gilani as beneficiary. But on Nov. 16, as Shah lay on his deathbed, Americo received an Ownership Change Request form to allow Abid to be in charge of future administrative decisions.

Then on Jan. 11, Awan used his newly gained status to make himself the beneficiary of the policy instead of his stepmother. The form’s required witness signature was blank, and it was rejected. A week later, Abid re-submitted it but with a notary’s seal.

A police report shows that in January 2017, Gilani called Fairfax police claiming her stepsons refused to let her see her dying husband in his final moments. Police said Abid angrily waved an unsigned power-of-attorney document at an officer and refused to give Shah’s location.

Shah died of cancer Jan. 16 and Americo received a claim on Feb. 2 for the $50,000 to be paid to Abid. Americo told the court it also received a letter from Gilani contending the “beneficiary changes to the policy were procured through fraud.”

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