Former Michael Flynn Business Associates Indicted in Turkey Lobbying Case
WASHINGTON — Two former business associates of Michael T. Flynn, President 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 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Charges against the two former associates, Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin, were unsealed on Monday in an Alexandria, Va., courtroom. The two men were charged with a conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules, and Mr. Alptekin also was charged with making false statements to F.B.I. investigators.
The indictment is further evidence of a broad crackdown on unregistered foreign lobbying growing from the inquiry by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel who has investigated foreign flows of money from Ukraine, Turkey and other countries designed to manipulate decision-making in Washington. Mr. Mueller referred the Turkey case to prosecutors in Northern Virginia earlier this year.
The investigation into Turkish lobbying began in 2016 after Mr. Flynn — a former general and businessman who was advising Mr. Trump’s political campaign — wrote an op-ed for The Hill newspaper on Election Day attacking Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in Pennsylvania whom the Turkish government has accused of helping instigate a failed coup.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/former-michael-flynn-business-associates-indicted-in-turkey-lobbying-case/ar-BBR59Jb?li=BBnb7Kz
Lock him up!
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