The Justice Department on Monday dropped charges against a former business associate of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Bijan Rafiekian, who had been accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Turkey.
Rafiekian, who worked for former President Donald Trump’s White House transition team and was investigated during special counsel Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, was previously convicted of two felony charges related to his alleged foreign lobbying efforts.
That conviction was overturned by US District Court Judge Anthony Trenga in 2019, and after the case was sent back to Trenga by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, he ordered a new trial for Rafiekian, which the government will not pursue.
“After carefully considering the recent Fourth Circuit decision in this case and the principles of federal prosecution, the United States believes it is not in the public interest to pursue the case against defendant Bijan Rafiekian any further,” federal prosecutors wrote in the filed dismissal motion. in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Rafiekian faces two criminal charges related to an alleged lobbying scheme on behalf of the Turkish government as an unregistered agent.AP
Rafiekian’s case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning he can no longer stand trial for the charges therein.
A lawyer for a former Trump adviser celebrated the DOJ’s decision while slamming prosecutors for the 2018 indictment.
“The Department of Justice finally admitted that this case should not have been prosecuted. Mr. Rafiekian has been the target of baseless federal prosecution for the past five years, simply because he made the poor decision to be in business with Michael Flynn,” Mark MacDougall, an attorney for Rafiekian, said in a statement.
The alleged lobbying efforts were carried out while Rafiekian worked at a firm founded by Michael Flynn. AP
The DOJ alleges that Rafiekian and Flynn’s business entity, the Flynn Intel Group, acted on behalf of the Turkish government when it was involved in a campaign to support the deportation of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to indict in an attempted coup.
Flynn pleaded guilty to felony false statement charges in 2017 and avoided charges in the foreign lobbying investigation after agreeing to testify against Rafiekian at trial, but he was later declared a co-conspirator after failing to cooperate with the DOJ.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr dropped the government’s case against Flynn in 2020 and Trump pardoned the retired general later that year.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
