Robert fCKelner
BEIJING BRUSSELS LONDON 1 0 * ANGELES
NEW YORK IAN FRANCISCO SEOUL
SHANGHAI SILICON VALLEY WASHINGTON
Covington & Burling LLP
OneCityCenter
850 Tenth Street, NW
Washington,DC20001-4956
T +12026625503
rkelner@cov.com
March 7,2017
Ms. Heather Hunt
FARA Registration Unit
U.S. Department ofJustice
6oo E Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
In September 2016, Flynn Intel Group publicly disclosed its representation of Inovo BV in a federal Lobbying Disclosure Act ("LDA") registration that was filed with the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House.
As you know, under FARA, a U.S. firm that represents a foreign corporate client, which is not a foreign government or political party, may register under the LDA rather than FARA, so long as the firm engages in lobbying activities for its client. Flynn Intel Group concluded that because its client was a foreign corporation and the services provided included lobbying activities, it could file under the LDA.
The Department's regulations provide that filing under the LDA is not an option, however, if a foreign government, even though not the client, nonetheless is the "principal beneficiary" of the work performed This is an uncertain standard, not based on the statutory language, and not defined in the Department's regulations.
Nevertheless, because of the subject matter of Flynn Intel Group's work for Inovo BV, which focused on Mr. Fethullah Gulen, whose extradition is sought by the Government of Turkey, the engagement could be construed to have principally benefitted the Republic of Turkey. To eliminate any potential doubt, the Flynn Intel Group therefore is electing to file a registration under FARA, in lieu of its prior LDA registration.
