Mueller ARRESTS Trump’s disgraced national security adviser Mike Flynn’s business partner and indicts him and another associate over ‘illegal lobbying plot’
Two ex-business associates of President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn have been indicated
The charges come out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation
Bijan Kian, Flynn’s Number 2 at his lobbying firm, and Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin were charged with a conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules
The indictments are part of Mueller’s broader crackdown on foreign lobbying
By EMILY GOODIN
DAILYMAIL.COM
17 December 2018
Two ex-business associates of President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn have been indicated by special counsel Robert Mueller as a result of his Russia investigation.
Bijan Kian, who was the Number 2 at Flynn’s lobbying firm, and Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin were charged with a conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules.
The charges come out of Mueller’s look into Turkey’s secret lobbying campaign to pressure the United States to expel a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kian was indicted on charges including failing to register as a foreign agent. He appeared in federal court and is out on bond.
Alptekin stands accused of directing and funding Kian and Flynn’s work, and then lying in U.S. filings about his role. He faces additional charges of making false statements to the FBI but he remains in Turkey.
The indictments are part of Mueller’s broader crackdown on foreign lobbying. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was indicted for his work for the Ukraine.
The investigation into Turkish lobbying began in 2016 after Flynn, who was advising Trump’s presidential campaign at the time but had his own lobbying shop The Flynn Intel Group, wrote an op-ed for The Hill newspaper attacking Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in Pennsylvania, The New York Times reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Gulen of directing a failed coup.
Prosecutors charge the two men ‘conspired covertly and unlawfully to influence U.S. politicians and public opinion’ regarding Gulen and ‘ultimately’ secure Gulen’s extradition.
The two men ‘knowingly acted and caused others to act in the United States as an agent of a foreign government, that is, the government of Turkey, without prior notification to the Attorney General, as required by law,’ the indictment reads.
According to the indictment, Kian was vice chairman of Flynn’s business group, the Flynn Intel Group.
The two worked throughout 2016 to seek ways to have Gulen extradited from the U.S. to Turkey.
Flynn is referred to in the indictment only as ‘Person A.’
When he pleaded guilty last December to lying to FBI gents working on the Russia investigation, Flynn also admitted to repeated violations of laws requiring firms to register their work on behalf of foreign clients.
Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday in that case, the first former White House official to face the judge.
Last week Mueller’s office said that Flynn’s cooperation – including 19 meetings with investigators – was so extensive that he was entitled to avoid prison when he is sentenced.
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