A one-time business partner of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been arrested and charged with illegally lobbying to have a Turkish exile returned from the U.S.
Bijan Rafiekian, who also goes by the name Bijan Kian, made an initial appearance Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
He is indicted on charges including failing to register as a foreign agent.
According to the indictment, Rafiekian was vice chairman of Flynn's business group, the Flynn Intel Group. The two worked throughout 2016 to seek ways to have cleric Fethullah Gulen extradited from the U.S. to Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Gulen of directing a failed coup.
Flynn is referred to in the indictment only as "Person A." Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for lying to the FBI.Â
Last week, the special counsel pushed back at the suggestion that the FBI acted improperly in its interview of Flynn.
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Flynn's lawyers said in a sentencing memorandum that Flynn was not warned during his interview with the FBI that it was a crime to lie to federal agents.
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But prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller say Flynn had lied to the White House about his contacts with the Russian ambassador well before the January 2017 interview and merely repeated the same falsehoods when approached by the FBI.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
