New trial ordered for Flynn associate

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge has ordered a new trial for a one-time business partner of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn accused of acting as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government.

The ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga is the latest twist in the long-running legal saga for businessman Bijan Kian, who was a partner with Flynn in the Flynn Intel Group.

Kian was charged in 2018 an a case spun off from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference.

Prosecutors said Kian conspired with a Turkish businessman to use Flynn’s influence on behalf of the Turkish government. Specifically, they said Kian and Flynn were acting at Turkey’s behest when they undertook a project to discredit Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish cleric living in the U.S.

A jury convicted Kian in 2019, but Trenga tossed out the verdict and ordered an acquittal. He also ruled that if for some reason his order were overturned on appeal that Kian should get a new trial.

Last year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the conviction. The case was sent back to Trenga, with only a narrow path for him to order a new trial if he could detail why the evidence failed to support a conviction.

On Friday, Trenga issued a 51-page ruling ordering a new trial. Among other factors, he cited evidence that the actual conspiracy involved Flynn and the Turkish businessman, Kamil Alptekin, with Kian not part of the arrangement.

Karoline Foote, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, declined to say whether the government will seek to put Kian on trial again.