U.S. jury finds business partner of former Trump adviser guilty of secretly lobbying for Turkey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Tuesday convicted Bijan Rafiekian, former business partner of former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn, over charges of secretly lobbying for Turkey, a Department of Justice spokesman said.

Rafiekian, a former U.S. Export-Import Bank director and co-founder of the consultancy firm Flynn Intel Group, was facing charges that he covertly lobbied for Turkey to discredit and extradite Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen from the United States to Turkey. He was indicted in December along with Ekim Alptekin, a Turkish-Dutch businessman, for failing to disclose their lobbying and lying about the nature of their work.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Dan Grebler)