Flynn's Turkish lobbying client surfaces, through lawyers, in Virginia case
Source: Politico
A Turkish businessman charged with hiring Michael Flynn as part of a secret, illegal U.S. lobbying scheme on behalf of the Turkish government during and after the 2016 presidential campaign is still at large and wanted by the FBI, but has now dispatched lawyers to try to fight prosecutors in an ongoing criminal case in a Virginia federal court.
Ekim Alptekin was indicted last December on charges he conspired with former Flynn business partner Bijan Rafiekian in the lobbying campaign aimed at buttressing Turkey’s effort to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who won asylum from the U.S. and lives in Pennsylvania.
Alptekin is believed to be in Turkey and had become something of an afterthought as prosecutors prepared for a scheduled July 15 trial for Rafiekian, also known as Kian.
However, on Thursday, attorneys for Alptekin abruptly surfaced in the case and asked U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Trenga to allow them to seek to block a prosecution effort to pierce the confidentiality of Alptekin’s communications with an earlier legal team at law firm Arent Fox.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/07/michael-flynn-turkish-lobbying-1357279
This is related to one of Rachel's stories tonight.
