NEW YORK Bijan Kian was convicted by a federal jury of secretly acting as an agent of the Turkish government while working with former national security adviser Michael Flynn, his onetime business partner.
The criminal case against Kian, who co-founded Flynn Intelligence Group, was one of several to grow out of the special counsels investigation of foreign interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. That investigation cast a light on foreign agents operating in the U.S. without registering, an offense that has been prosecuted rarely.
The verdict on Tuesday came a day before special counsel Robert Mueller is scheduled to appear before Congress for the first time since he completed his investigation. Mueller secured a guilty plea from Flynn and referred the Kian case to federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Va. Jurors there deliberated for less than a day before handing down their two-count conviction.
Prosecutors said Kian helped the Turkish government in its efforts to blame Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam based in the U.S., for a failed coup attempt in 2016 against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Although Flynn wasnt called as a witness at trial, his role as a key adviser to President Donald Trump and his deep involvement with Kian in his dealings with the Turkish government made him a key figure in the case.
Jurors had to decide whether Kian conspired to act as an agent of the Turkish government without notifying the U.S. Justice Department. Prosecutors said that Kian disguised the true nature of a project meant to undermine Gulen.
It was always about getting dirt on Gulen and getting him extradited and making sure that Erdogan was viewed favorably by the United States government and the people of the United States, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Gillis said in closing arguments on Monday. He added: They tried to subvert the American process so that Erdogan could get his hands on Gulen.
After Flynn agreed in 2017 to cooperate in the case against Kian, prosecutors trial strategy was built around using him as their star witness. In December, they told a judge that Flynn had been so helpful that they would agree to no prison time for his guilty plea for lying to investigators.
But last month, Flynn changed course, hiring a new lawyer who has been harshly critical of the Mueller inquiry and backing away from statements hed made during his debriefings with investigators. As a result, prosecutors dropped him as a witness, told the judge that their view of his role had changed from cooperator to co-conspirator and said they would reassess their agreement with Flynn.
Without Flynns testimony, the Kian trial centered on emails and documents, as well as testimony from Flynns former lawyer. Flynns company was hired in 2016 by a Dutch registered company, Innovo BV, for $600,000, ostensibly to offer business intelligence for an Israeli company considering a pipeline deal in the Mideast.
But prosecutors said that was a front for the Turkish government, which wanted the company owned by Flynn _ who was then acting as a top security adviser to the Trump presidential campaign _ to lobby for the extradition of Gulen.
Kian was convicted of conspiracy and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
