Federal
investigators probing the lobbying work of ousted national security adviser
Michael Flynn are focused in part on the role of Bijan Kian, Flynn’s former
business
partner, according to a person interviewed by the FBI.
Investigators are also looking at whether
payments from foreign clients to Flynn and his company, the now-inactive Flynn
Intel Group, were lawful, according to two separate sources with knowledge of
the broad inquiry into Flynn's business activities. That includes payments by
three Russian companies and a Netherlands-based company, Inovo, controlled by
Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin, they said.
The FBI's interest in Kian has not been
previously reported. Kian played a central role in securing and overseeing the
Inovo contract, two people with knowledge of that project said.
It is not
clear whether Kian is a target of the criminal investigation or whether
investigators are trying to build a fuller understanding of how Flynn's company
operated.
A person
recently interviewed by the FBI in connection with the Flynn investigation said
agents from the bureau's criminal division had asked as much about Kian and his
work on the project with Alptekin as they had about Flynn.
Kian did not respond to repeated requests
for comment, nor did the lawyer he recently hired, Robert Trout. The FBI
declined to comment.
Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not
respond to requests for comment. Alptekin declined to comment for this story
but last month told Reuters that he was satisfied with the work done by Flynn
Intel Group and denied any wrongdoing.
The FBI has
been investigating whether Flynn's consulting firm lobbied on behalf of Turkey
- after being paid $530,000 by Inovo - without making the proper disclosure,
Reuters reported earlier this month.
The federal investigation is being run by
special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller has a mandate to investigate contacts
between Russia and Trump's 2016 election campaign team and any related matters.
Flynn was fired by the Trump administration in February after officials said he
mischaracterized a series of phone calls with Russia’s ambassador last
December.
The top Democrat on the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform, which has separately been looking into whether
Flynn made false statements in applying for security clearance, said he was
also scrutinizing Kian.
"I have an interest in Bijan Kian and
his interactions with General Flynn based on specific documents already
obtained by the Committee,” Elijah Cummings told Reuters in an email.
Kelner has
sought immunity for Flynn in exchange for his testimony, saying his client
"certainly has a story to tell."
FAILED COUP OPENS A DOOR
In private conversations with potential
clients, Kian portrayed himself as a rainmaker for Flynn, tapping into
connections cultivated during a five-year tenure as a director at the U.S.
Export-Import Bank, according to one person who worked with the firm.
Alptekin told Reuters in May that his firm
hired Flynn Intel Group to research Gulen's activities in the United States,
which he suspected were "poisoning" relations between the United
States and Turkey. Like Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan, Alptekin blamed the
coup on followers of Gulen.
Gulen has denied any role in the coup and
dismisses Turkey’s allegations that he heads a terrorist organization.
Kian oversaw key elements of the project
that emerged, including a still-unfinished documentary on Gulen, according to
two people involved in the project.
Inovo paid
Flynn Intel Group a total of $530,000, starting in September, according to a
Justice Department filing by the company in March. Flynn Intel Group paid
$80,000 to Inovo in "consultancy fees," according to the filing,
which does not provide more detail on why payments were made in both
directions.
On Sept. 19, Kian and Flynn met in New York
with Turkey's foreign minister and energy minister, who is Erdogan's
son-in-law, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.
In late October Kian invited staff of the
House Homeland Security Committee to Flynn Intel Group's headquarters in
Virginia. The meeting was called to show off new mobile phone security
technology, but Kian also used the opportunity to try to get a congressional
hearing on Gulen, according to a person at the meeting.
At that point, the Flynn Intel Group had
only disclosed its work for Alptekin's Inovo in a filing with Congress. It had
not mentioned Inovo’s ties to Turkey.
When Justice Department officials became
aware months later that Kian and other Flynn Intel Group officials had met with
Turkish officials they insisted on a fuller disclosure, people involved in
those discussions said.
The Flynn Intel Group made the more
detailed disclosure in its March filing with the Justice Department under the
Foreign Agents Registration Act that said the work that Flynn and Kian did for
Inovo “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of
Turkey.”
Reuters
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