Bijan Kian, Iranian-American Partner of Former Trump Advisor, Appears in Court

Bijan Kian, an Iranian-American partner of Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor to Donald Trump, appeared in court on charges of illegal lobbying for the extradition of Fethullah Gülen to Turkey. According to the Associated Press, Kian appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Monday, December 26. According to the indictment issued against him, he was acting as the head of Flynn's business group. Flynn and Kian were active in 2016 to extradite Fethullah Gülen, a dissident Turkish cleric, to Ankara. Turkey claims Gülen was the mastermind behind the failed coup in the country. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia stated in their indictment: "The defendants sought to discredit and tarnish the reputation of a Turkish citizen in the eyes of politicians and the public, ultimately to facilitate his extradition." The indictment does not name the "Turkish citizen," but according to Reuters, prosecutors' reference could be to Fethullah Gülen, who lives in Pennsylvania. The Turkish Foreign Minister announced on Sunday that Donald Trump had told Erdogan that Washington is considering the extradition of Gülen. The New York Times also reported that the charges against Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin, two former partners of Michael Flynn who appeared in Alexandria court, involve conspiracy to violate federal lobbying laws. Ekim Alptekin is also accused of lying to FBI agents. The newspaper states that the indictment against Kian and Alptekin came after investigations by Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor, regarding the injection of foreign funds from Ukraine, Turkey, and other countries to influence policymaking in Washington. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's National Security Advisor, resigned. Mueller had previously referred the Turkey case to prosecutors in Virginia. Robert Mueller and his team's investigations revolve around the possibility of collusion between Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign and Russia. Michael Flynn was dismissed from the Trump administration in February 2017 after providing inaccurate information about his contacts with the Russian ambassador in Washington. Details of Flynn's lobbying group on behalf of Turkey. Bijan Kian has always introduced himself as an analyst and was appointed as a board member of the Export-Import Bank of the United States during George W. Bush's presidency, which was also confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Reuters reported on June 20, 2017, that Robert Mueller's team's investigations focused on whether payments made to Michael Flynn and his company by foreign clients were legal. These payments included funds from three Russian companies and Inovo, a Netherlands-based company managed by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin. Kian played a central role in the conclusion and oversight of Inovo's contract with Michael Flynn's company. According to Reuters, Bijan Kian presented himself as a "deal-making" partner of Michael Flynn in private discussions with potential clients. Alptekin stated in May 2017 that his company hired Flynn's group to investigate Gülen's activities in the United States. Gülen has been accused of attempting to "poison" relations between the U.S. and Turkey. Kian oversaw a project that Flynn's group intended to prepare for Inovo, including an unfinished documentary about Gülen. According to a document that Flynn's group provided to the U.S. Department of Justice in March 2017, Inovo had committed to pay a total of $530,000 to this group starting from September of that year. Kian and Flynn met with Turkey's Foreign Minister, Energy Minister, and son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York on September 19, 2017. In late October of that year, Bijan Kian invited members of the House Homeland Security Committee to Flynn's office in Virginia. This meeting was supposed to be about mobile security technology, but Kian took the opportunity to inform the mentioned representatives about the Gülen case. Months later, when the U.S. Department of Justice learned that Kian and Flynn had met with Turkish officials, they requested that the two provide complete information about this meeting. Flynn's group provided more details to the Department of Justice in March 2017 under the "Foreign Agents Registration Act," stating that Kian and Flynn's work for Inovo "could benefit the Republic of Turkey." Bijan Kian was a critic of Barack Obama and, for instance, in September 2016, accused the former U.S. president of suffering from "political delusion." He told Voice of America: "He (Obama) is suffering from 'political delusion' and is practically focusing on issues like climate change instead of addressing fundamental issues in America."