Why was Bijan Kian, Iranian American Businessman and Friend of Queen Farah Diba, Indicted?
Independent Aggregator of Iran-related News/Events, Kodoom.com: Iranian-American businessman and banker Bijan Kian, former vice chair of the now-defunct Flynn Intel Group, has been charged in U.S. District Court in Eastern Virginia with conspiracy and acting as an agent of a foreign government for his efforts to have Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen extradited from the United States. Kian appeared Monday morning in court in Alexandria, Virginia, and was released without bail. Kian, a former business associate of Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Trump, entered his "not guilty" plea Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, where U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga also set a Feb. 11 trial date.
Bijan Rafiekian, also known as Bijan Kian, is a resident of San Juan Capistrano, California, and a prominent figure in monarchist Iranian American circles loyal to the former deposed King (shah) of Iran. A close friend of former Iranian Queen, Farah Diba, Kian, like other monarchists, is interested in overthrowing Iran's Islamic government, also served on Trump’s transition team, in the division related to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Kian is a co-founder of Nowruz Commission, a former board member of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and a former director of the State of California Office of Foreign Investment.
Mr. Flynn and his business partner, Bijan Kian, hired consultants to create a film attacking the Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who has been accused of orchestrating a failed July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey from his home in rural Pennsylvania. According to The Wall Street Journal, FBI agents have also contacted Rudi Bakhtiar, another Iranian American and a former CNN anchor hired to work on the documentary, to ask them about their roles in the venture, according to people familiar with the matter.
Last year, Kian was mentioned in a report as being questioned about payments from foreign clients to Flynn Intel Group, including payments by three Russian companies and a Netherlands-based company, Inovo, controlled by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin.
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