Heavy: A former business partner of Michael Flynn is facing federal charges accusing him of illegally lobbying for Turkey. Bijan Kian was indicted on charges of conspiracy and acting in the United States as an illegal agent of the government of Turkey, the Department of Justice said in a press release...
1. Kian, Alptekin & Flynn Conspired to Conceal That the Turkish Government Was Paying Flynn & His Company to Advance Their Interests Surrounding the Fetullah Gulen Case, Prosecutors Say
Bijan Kian, Kamil Ekim Alptekin and Michael Flynn are accused of conspiring to conceal that the Turkish government was paying for Flynn and his company, which was co-founded by Kian, to advance Turkey’s interests about Fetullah Gulen, according to federal prosecutors. Flynn is identified in court documents as “Person A” and his company, the Flynn Intel Group, is named as “Company A.”
The Justice Department said in a press release, “According to allegations in the indictment, the two men were involved in a conspiracy to covertly influence U.S. politicians and public opinion against a Turkish citizen living in the United States whose extradition had been requested by the Government of Turkey.”
Kian, while working for the Flynn Intel Group, provided services based on Flynn’s national security expertise, prosecutors say. According to the indictment, the conspiracy aimed to “delegitimize” Gulen “in the eyes of the American public and United States politicians, with the goal of obtaining his extradition, which was meeting resistance at the U.S. Department of Justice.”
Prosecutors say Kian and Alptekin sought to hide the fact the Turkish government was directing their work. “However, not only did Turkish cabinet-level officials approve the budget for the project, but Alptekin provided the Turkish officials updates on the work, and relayed their directions on the work to Rafiekian, Person A, and others at Company A,” prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, Kian and Alptekin made it seem a Dutch company owned by Alptekin was the client of Flynn and the Flynn Intel Group. Alptekin’s company paid a fee to Flynn’s company of $600,000.
“Alptekin made the payments from an account in Turkey. The indictment alleges that after Alptekin made the payments to Company A, it was to kick back 20 percent of the payments to Alptekin’s company in the Netherlands, and two such kickbacks were made,” prosecutors said.
2. He Was Born in Iran, Studied at the University of Brighton in the UK & Later at Oxford University & the Harvard University Kennedy School Of Government
Bijan Kian, whose full name is Bijan Rafiekian, was born in Iran and studied engineering in Tehran. According to his Linkedin profile, Kian then completed his master’s degree in management studies at the University of Brighton in the UK in 1979.
He later studied national and international security at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2008 and political philosophy at the University of Oxford from 2011 to 2012. Kian also completed a certificate in FINTECH and blockchain technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016.
From 2011 to 2013, Kian was a senior fellow in global public policy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. According to his Linkedin profile, Kian, “Has lectured at National Defense University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, American University, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, California State University, Fullerton, California State University, Dominguez Hills and Chapman University.”
He received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2009 and has been a fellow at the Royal Society of Arts in the United Kingdom, according to his Linkedin profile.
3. Kian, Who Describes Himself as an ‘Internationally Recognized Diplomat,’ Served as a Board Member of the Export-Import Bank From 2006 to 2011 & Started a Persian Cultural Nonprofit
Kian, who describes himself as an “internationally recognized diplomat for the United States,” served as a board member of the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 2006 to 2011. He was first nominated by President George W. Bush. He is the highest ranking Iranian-born American to serve in the U.S. government, according to his Linkedin profile.
“At USEXIM, he served as Chairman of the Audit Committee and Member of the Credit Committee as well as a Member of the White House Business Council,” Kian said on Linkedin. “From 2006 to 2011, his portfolio included the Middle East, Central Asia, The Caucasus and Russia. A former director of Foreign Investment for California, he directed the global attraction, retention and expansion of California’s $92 billion portfolio from Europe, Asia, Africa, The Americas and The Middle East.”
Kian also served as an official in the California state government, including as an Economic Development Commissioner and Commissioner of Housing Finance. He also worked as California’s Director of Foreign Investment.
Kian has also been an advocate for regime change in his native Iran.
He founded the Flynn Intel Group with Michael Flynn in 2015 and served as its vice chairman. After President Donald Trump won the 2016 election, Kian was named to his transition team as intelligence community deputy lead. According to his Linkedin profile, he “Served as Deputy Lead in directing the efforts of a volunteer group that connected with all 17 elements of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Supported providing policy input, strategic guidance and operational counsel to prepare new Directors National Intelligence, CIA and other Cabinet Secretaries for roles in the Trump administration.”
4. He & His Wife Live in California & Have 2 Daughters
Kian and his wife, Gissou Kian, live in California. They have two daughters, Christine Rafiekian and Alexandria Rafiekian. Along with his wife and others, Kian founded the Nowruz Commission, a nonprofit Persian cultural organization in 2010. He is currently the vice chairman of the nonprofit. His wife, Gissou Kian, is the president of the nonprofit.
According to the Nowruz Commission website, “With 25 years of experience at America’s largest financial institutions, Gissou is a seasoned banker and risk manager. As the first President of the Nowruz Commission, she was instrumental in coordinating the participation of eight governments as well as the Iranian American Community in the United States. She lead the efforts on the inauguration of the commission in March 2010 at the Library of Congress, together with the Ambassadors of participating countries and members of the United States Congress. Throughout her life, Gissou has been dedicated to philanthropic causes and organizations.”
5. Kian Was Released on Bond & Faces Up to 15 Years in Federal Prison if Convicted
Bijan Kian was arrested and made his first appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Monday, December 17. He was released on personal recognizance bond. If convicted of the charges against him, Kian faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
Kian and his attorneys have not commented about his arrest.
Mueller has deviated from his main task of finding collusion between Trump team and Russia and gone to the business of muckraking.
Witch hunt! Show me Russian collusion proof!
At first glance his resume looks impressive, but you soon discover some big holes. He got his master’s degree in ’79 from Brighton. Then there are several universities mentioned where he “studied”, including an online certificate from MIT which is a self-paced short course. He also “lectured” at several universities where it is not clear if he was a guest or a full-time professor.
He was made a board member for the Bank in 2006 which means he attended once-per-quarter meetings. It is not at all clear what he did between 1979 and 2006. Nevertheless, he is good at self-promotion, but got caught eventually.
Thanks Mr. Mueller and the Team.
He has more degrees and impressive credentials than that associate degree in animal husbandry you bought from Arkansas Institute of Tokhmology!!! :-))))
Well guess RP will be next on the suspicion list ...
https://washingtonlife.smugmug.com/2012PHOTOS/NOWRUZ-2012/i-ghgkP7R/A
ok So it seems that Mr. Kian just like Houshang Amirahmadi discovered that there is not much money in education and teaching and the best way to make money in U.S is to somehow leach off of government agencies, do some lobbying, burecracy and money laundering scheme and so on.
The part that is not clear, did he do all this for lousy 600K? was this money his first project he was involved at and more money would have come his way if he was not caught, or was this one project among many that he had his hands in?
Of the $600,000 payout, $120,000 was a kickback to the Turkish intermediary. They also paid someone to write editorials against Erdogan's nemesis, Abdulallah Gulen. After splitting whatever that was left, he probably got $200,000 which I'm sure he contributed to his wife's non-profit Nowruz Commission to avoid paying taxes.