Report: DNC Staffer Imran Awan Bragged He Could Have People Tortured

A Tuesday report by the Daily Caller’s Luke Rosiak suggests indicted Democratic IT aide Imran Awan sent cash to a relative in Pakistani law enforcement and once bragged he could have people taken in and beaten at his request.

Rosiak reports Awan’s stepmother, Samina Gilani, claims the disgraced IT staffer and his brother have been paying a cousin, Pakistani police officer Azhar Awan. The Daily Caller confirmed Azhar has been in contact with Imran via Facebook, which is especially concerning given casual boasts Imran Awan made to co-workers.

“He wanted to build a CRM [customer relationship management software] but he wanted to do it in Pakistan,” a Democratic IT aide who wished to remain anonymous related to the Daily Caller about his conversations with Awan, continuing:

But the government doesn’t allow that. They have to be American, but Imran said, “Well, we can say that they’re American, but really they’ll be in Pakistan. I have these guys that work for the Faisalabad police department, and all we have to do is pay them $100 a month and they take them over to the police station, strip their clothes off, hang them upside down and beat them with a shoe. And that person will work hard and be loyal from then on.” And we were all like, “what the fuck.” Two other people were there. We said, “he’s a fucking monster.”

According to Rosiak’s source, this conversation took place in the U.S. House cafeteria “several years ago.”

Awan, whose arrest while boarding a plane to Pakistan – where he had already sent hundreds of thousands of dollars – made headlines in August, is under indictment in a land-fraud conspiracy. He is also suspected of stealing, along with several family members, thousands of dollars of electronic equipment from his role as tech staffer to several congressional Democrats including former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Separately, three woman have come forward to claim Awan abused them, keeping them as “slaves” in his Fairfax, Virginia, home.

While the ordinary criminal elements of Awan and his family’s list of alleged misdeeds are concerning, some are more troubled by the possibility he could have compromised government security with his access to the systems of congressmen and women he worked for. While there is no clear evidence of classified information leaking, reports of “terabytes” of members’ data being stolen abound.

Read Rosiak’s full report here.