US

Appeals Court Reinstates Guilty Verdict For Michael Flynn’s Business Partner In Turkish Lobbying Case

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
Font Size:
  • A former business partner of Michael Flynn was dealt a major legal blow on Thursday after a federal appeals court reinstated his conviction on charges that he lobbied illegally for the Turkish government. 
  • The three-judge panel said that Bijan Rafiekian operated as an agent of Turkey in 2016, when he was an executive at Flynn’s intelligence firm. 
  • A federal judge had tossed out a conviction against Rafiekian in September 2019, claiming that the government’s evidence was “insufficient.” 
  • The appeals court reversed that decision, saying that jurors “heard sufficient evidence” that Rafiekian worked for Turkey. 

A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated a guilty verdict against Bijan Rafiekian, a former business partner of Michael Flynn’s who was convicted in 2019 on charges that he lobbied secretly for the Turkish government.

A three-judge panel unanimously voted to override a decision by District Court Judge Anthony Trenga to toss out charges against Rafiekian following his July 23, 2019 conviction on charges that he worked as an unregistered foreign agent of Turkey while he served as an executive for Flynn Intel Group, an intelligence consulting firm founded by Flynn.

Rafiekian, who was chairman of the Export-Import Bank during the George W. Bush administration, was indicted in 2018 alongside Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin.

Trenga tossed out charges against Rafiekian on Sept. 24, 2019, saying that the government’s evidence was “insufficient as a matter of law.”

The appellate court judges said Thursday that the jury was provided with enough evidence to find that Rafiekian acted as an agent of Turkey.

“We are convinced that the jury heard sufficient evidence that Rafiekian acted as ‘an agent of a foreign government,'” James Wynn, a judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote in the opinion.

Wynn said that a “rational juror could conclude” that the Turkish government “was, in fact, behind the project.” (RELATED: Trump’s Military Adviser Is Lobbying For Obscure Dutch Company With Ties To Turkish Government)

He said that the Turkish government communicated “general and specific instructions” to Flynn Intel Group through Alptekin.

Bijan Rafiekian, also known as Bijan Kian, center, arrives at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 18. 2018. Kian and Kamil Ekim Alptekin, associates of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, were accused of helping the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan retaliate against a political opponent, and then concealing the government's involvement. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bijan Rafiekian arrives at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 18. 2018. (Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Rafiekian hewed to those directions over the life of the engagement — all without notifying the Attorney General,” Wynn wrote.

The Daily Caller first reported details of the Flynn Intel Group lobbying arrangement on Nov. 11, 2016.

Three days earlier, Flynn had published an op-ed in The Hill called on the U.S. government to extradite Fethullah Gulen, an exiled cleric who is a political foe of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s.

Lobbying records filed with Congress showed that Flynn Intel Group had signed a lobbying agreement in August 2016 with a Dutch shell company called Inovo B.V.

Inovo was registered to Alptekin, who served at the time as chairman of the Turkish-U.S. Business Council, a trade group controlled by the Turkish government.

Flynn Intel Group, Rafiekian and Flynn registered as foreign agents of Turkey on May 7, 2017.

In their disclosures, Flynn Intel Group revealed that the firm signed a $600,000 contract with Inovo to investigate Gulen and potentially gain his extradition from the U.S.

Flynn was not charged in the case. A plea deal he struck with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team protected him from prosecution over his lobbying activities for Turkey.

Rafiekian had denied that the Turkish government directed any of his work at Flynn Intel Group or for Alptekin, but prosecutors presented emails at Rafiekian’s trial that showed that two Turkish government officials directed the Flynn Intel investigation.

Alptekin arranged a meeting in New York City in September 2017 for Flynn, Rafiekian and two top Turkish government ministers.

A retired FBI official who worked for Flynn Intel Group on the Gulen project testified that Rafiekian asked him if he could still access government files on Gulen. Brian McAuley, the retired official, said that Rafiekian also asked him if he could surveil Gulen’s supporters in the U.S.

According to Politico, Rafiekian can request that the full appeals court review Thursday’s decision. He can also appeal to the Supreme Court. Otherwise, the case will go back to Trenga for sentencing. Rafiekian faces up to 15 years in prison.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel