WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2019) A former business partner of President Donald Trump's first White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been found guilty of illegally lobbying for Turkey, the US Justice Department said.
"After three hours of deliberations a Federal jury convicted a California man today on charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, conspiring to make false statements and willful omissions in a FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] filing, and acting as an agent of a foreign government," the department said in a press release on Tuesday.
According to the statement, Bijan Rafiekian via misrepresentations on his FARA documents tried to deceive the public and influence key leaders on behalf of Turkey.
"Rafiekian, 67, of San Juan Capistrano, California, along with his co-conspirator, Kamil Ekim Alptekin, 42, of Istanbul, a Turkish national with close ties to the highest levels of the Government of Turkey, were involved in a conspiracy to covertly influence United States politicians and public opinion against a Turkish national, Fethullah Gulen, who is living in the United States," the release said. "The conspiracy included using the Flynn Intel Group (FIG), a company founded by Rafiekian and Michael T. Flynn, which provided services based upon Flynn's national security expertise."
Ankara has accused Gulen of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey that left 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.
Gulen, who himself has been living in exile in the United States since 1999, has denied the accusations of plotting the coup.
Flynn, who had agreed to cooperate in the case, was regarded as the prosecution's star witness, but he was not called upon to testify, CNN reported earlier in the day.
Prosecutors maintained Kian and Flynn had worked for Turkey, but had kept it secret while Flynn was a major foreign policy adviser to Trump during his presidential campaign. Flynn was forced to resign later becoming the shortest serving National Security Adviser in US history.
