Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin quizzed over Turk exile, charter schools

Flynn-linked acquaintance called him last year, he says

Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin is shown in this file photo.
Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin is shown in this file photo.

Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin said Tuesday that he got a call from an old Washington, D.C., acquaintance last fall asking about connections between local charter schools and a Turkish exile -- but the caller never mentioned that his work was being contracted by Michael T. Flynn.


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The October call took place months before Flynn was appointed in January as President Donald Trump's national security adviser. Flynn was ousted less than a month later for failing to disclose contacts with a Russian official.

Since his departure from government in February, Flynn has become subject to increasing scrutiny over his foreign ties.

Filings with the U.S. Department of Justice have revealed more information about Flynn's work for a Turkish businessman last fall -- which resulted in the call being placed to Griffin's Little Rock office.

The businessman, Ekim Alptekin, through his Dutch company Inovo BV, hired Flynn in August to do consulting work "focused on improving U.S. business organization's confidence regarding doing business in Turkey," according to the filings.

Under the direction of Inovo, Flynn's group began looking into long-running allegations that Fethullah Gulen -- a Turkish exile and preacher living in Pennsylvania -- has ties to charter schools across the U.S.

Gulen is an adversary of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The leader has accused Gulen of being involved in a failed coup last year and is reported to be seeking the cleric's extradition to Turkey.

To research Gulen, Flynn's firm subcontracted with another Washington, D.C., group, SGR LLC Government Relations and Lobbying, which in turn reached out to others -- a pair of journalists, a staff member for the House Homeland Security Committee and Griffin.

"They are anti-Gulen," Griffin told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Tuesday, recalling the communications. "They were trying to make the case, and I think they were wrong, that some of the schools in Arkansas are connected with that group."

Griffin, a former congressman from Arkansas' 2nd District, said he spoke with Addison Smith, a public affairs strategist for SGR. Griffin said he knew Smith from "Republican circles" in Washington.

Smith could not be reached Tuesday to provide his account of the conversation.

The concerns Smith had, according to Griffin, specifically dealt with LISA Academy, which operates three public charter schools in Little Rock and North Little Rock.

"I've been a big advocate of LISA," Griffin said Tuesday.

After speaking with Smith for about 15 minutes -- filings SGR made with the Justice Department indicate the telephone conversation took place Oct. 13 or 14 -- Griffin said he asked around about the Gulen claims and determined that they were bogus.

Griffin said he never called Smith back to talk more about the claims.

One of the people Griffin reached out to was Scott Smith, the executive director of the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, an organization that supports rural school districts and charter schools.

Reached Tuesday, Scott Smith recalled talking with Griffin and telling him that the allegation surrounding Gulen and LISA Academy had first been raised years ago, but there was no evidence put forward to support the claim.

"The state Board [of Education] asked some questions about it and as far as I know they weren't able to substantiate anything," Scott Smith said.

The superintendent of LISA Academy, Atnan Ekin, did not respond to requests for comment left Tuesday.

Griffin said Addison Smith never mentioned Flynn -- at the time an adviser in Trump's presidential campaign -- during their discussion.

Griffin said he was unaware of the connection until his own name appeared in news reports in March, after Flynn registered as a foreign agent and detailed his work to the Department of Justice.

While Flynn maintains in his firm's filings that his work was related to the private sector and was not financed by a foreign government, the documents themselves state that the work could be "construed" to benefit the Turkish government.

Flynn Intel Group ended its contract with Inovo on Nov. 15, after Trump's election, and the firm folded that same month. Inovo paid Flynn Intel $530,000, according to the filings, and SGR in turn received $40,000 from Flynn's firm.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Alptekin, the Turkish businessman, said he was refunded part of the money for "underperformed lobbying." The news agency pointed to contacts with Griffin as examples of lobbying work that had been performed.

A Section on 05/11/2017

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