Former Flynn business associates are indicted in Turkey lobbying case
Two former business associates of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s first national-security adviser, have been indicted as part of a federal investigation into Turkey’s secret 2016 lobbying campaign to pressure the United States to expel a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Charges against the two former associates, Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin, were unsealed Monday in an Alexandria, Virginia, courtroom. The two men were indicted last week as part of a conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules, and Alptekin was also charged with making false statements to FBI investigators.
The indictment is further evidence of a broad crackdown on unregistered foreign lobbying growing from the inquiry by Robert Mueller, the special counsel who has investigated foreign flows of money from Ukraine, Turkey, and other countries devised to manipulate decision-making in Washington. Mueller referred the Turkey case back to prosecutors in Northern Virginia.
The indictment said the two men sought to conceal that Turkey was directing the work, and that high-level Turkish officials approved the budget for the project and were given regular updates by Alptekin about the campaign’s progress. Flynn’s firm — Flynn Intel Group — received a total of $530,000 for its work.
“The defendants sought to discredit and delegitimize the Turkish citizen in the eyes of politicians and the public,” the indictment said.
Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Washington on charges of lying to investigators about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the transition after the 2016 election.
This month, Mueller’s prosecutors issued a sentencing memorandum saying that Flynn had provided “substantial help” in several unspecified but continuing investigations. It is believed that the Turkey inquiry is one of these investigations.
Kian was released after the hearing Monday, and his lawyer declined to comment. Prosecutors said he faces up to 15 years in prison and Alptekin up to 35 years.
Alptekin’s location is unknown. Through a spokeswoman, he denied the charges.