The following article by Tom Hamburger and Matea Gold was posted on the Washington Post website August 3, 2017:
In a letter accompanying his revised disclosure, Flynn noted that his initial disclosure reports were filed under rushed circumstances without the customary consultation and review provided by White House lawyers and the Office of Government Ethics. The letter said Flynn did not receive the attention afforded others because he was no longer a White House employee at the time.
Flynn resigned his post just 24 days after taking office amid reports that he misled Vice President Pence about the nature of his contacts after the election with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
Flynn also drew criticism over foreign payments he received while working in the private sector after stepping down as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. In a previous disclosure to House investigators Flynn reported receiving nearly $68,000 in fees and expenses from Russia-related entities in 2015.
In addition to the Russia-related income, Thursday’s filing showed that Flynn received at least $5,000 as a consultant to a project to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East. Flynn’s work on that project had been disclosed previously, but it was not known that he was paid.
The updated disclosure also confirms that Flynn had agreed to work with the SCL Group, at the time the British parent company of Cambridge Analytica, a data science company hired by Donald Trump’s campaign. One of Cambridge’s main financiers is hedge fund magnate Robert L. Mercer, whose daughter Rebekah is an influential conservative donor.
The Washington Post reported in February that Flynn had been hired as an adviser to SCL Group. Flynn was tapped to help the American subsidiary of SCL win new U.S. government contracts, according to people familiar with his role. SCL also hired one of Flynn’s former colleagues from Office of the Director of National Intelligence to lead its government contracting efforts. Flynn received no compensation from SCL and performed no actual work, according to a person familiar with his activities.
The new filing disclosed that Flynn received about $28,000 from the Trump Presidential Transition. The largest source of income disclosed is $140,000 for Flynn’s work as an adviser and consultant to Minneapolis-based NJK Holding Corp. That firm is led by Nasser Kazeminy, an Iranian-born businessman now living in the United States.
The Associated Press reported Thursday evening that NJK issued a statement saying that Flynn “played an advisory role to NJK holdings relative to its investment interests in security.” NJK funds a technology firm called GreenZone Systems to which Flynn serves as vice chairman. GreenZone is led by Bijan Kian, Flynn’s business partner in Flynn Intel, a company now under scrutiny for its role in lobbying work for a Dutch-based business linked to the government of Turkey.
Earlier Thursday, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), asked Kian to provide information about Flynn’s foreign business contacts and travel. At the time of a previous security review on Flynn, Kian told military investigators that his partner had several foreign business contacts. But Flynn did not tell the same investigators about those contacts, according to Cummings. A person familiar with the situation said Flynn nonetheless received his security clearance at the time.
View the post here.