DOJ drops foreign-agent case against Michael Flynn’s ex-business partner

The Justice Department on Monday dropped charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s ex-business partner 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 had been investigated during special counsel Robert Mueller’s sprawling probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, was previously convicted on two felony counts related to his alleged foreign lobbying efforts. 

The convictions were 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 Fourth Circuit’s recent 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 further,” federal prosecutors wrote in a motion for dismissal filed in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

Rafiekian’s case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning he can no longer be tried for the charges in it.

A lawyer for the former Trump adviser celebrated the DOJ’s decision while slamming prosecutors for the 2018 indictment. 

“The Justice Department has finally conceded that this case should never have been indicted. Mr. Rafiekian has been the target of baseless federal prosecution for the past five years, only because he made the poor decision to be in business with Michael Flynn,” Mark MacDougall, an attorney for Rafiekian, said in a statement.

The DOJ alleged that Rafiekian and Flynn’s business entity, Flynn Intel Group, was acting on behalf of the Turkish government when it engaged in a campaign advocating for the deportation of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is wanted in by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his alleged involvement in a coup attempt. 

Flynn pleaded guilty to a felony false statement charge in 2017 and avoided charges in the foreign lobbying probe 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.