Two former business associates of Michael Flynn have been charged as part of an investigation into Turkey’s lobbying campaign to extradite an enemy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from the United States.
The indictment was unsealed Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., against Bijan Rafiekan, also known as Bijan Kian, 66, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and Ekim Alptekin, 44, of Istanbul and a Turkish national.
Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, will be sentenced in Washington on Tuesday on charges of lying to the FBI that were brought against him by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Both have been charged with conspiracy and acting in the U.S. as illegal agents of the government of Turkey. Alptekin is also charged with making false statements to the FBI.
According to the indictment, both men are alleged to have “conspired covertly and unlawfully to influence U.S. politicians and public opinion” concerning the attempt extradition of cleric Fethulla Gulen.
Gulen has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, and Erdogan has accused him of the failed coup against him in 2016. Turkey’s foreign minister claimed Sunday that Trump is moving to extradite Gulen.
“In Argentina, Trump told Erdogan they were working on extraditing [Turkish cleric Fethullah] Gulen and other people,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday at a conference in Doha, according to NBC News.
Trump and Erdogan attended the G-20 summit two weeks ago in Argentina.
Gulen has denied being part of the coup, and Trump said last month he is not considering extraditing him.
Kian, Alpteikin and Flynn ran a consulting firm together. Rafiekian made an appearance in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday. He was released on bail and will be arraigned on Tuesday. The status of Alptekin is not immediately known.
