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Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, a Turkish tycoon now on the run over a half-billion-dollar fraud scheme involving members of fundamentalist Mormon sect, hosted influential Americans on a backchannel trip to Turkey to free jailed American pastor Andrew Brunson.
More on the case here:
https://www.occrp.org/en/investigat...2018-attempt-to-free-us-pastor-held-in-turkey
Key Findings
- Trump backer Tommy Hicks Jr. and former C.I.A. Director James Woolsey flew to Turkey in September 2018 to help secure the release of Brunson from Turkish detention.
- The men were hosted by Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, whose now-convicted U.S. business associates included an Armenian-American organized crime figure and members of a Mormon polygamist sect.
- The backchannel mission to free Brunson was organized by Nancye Miller, a lobbyist married to Woolsey, who was in communication with the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
- The Americans mostly stayed in their hotel, and did not manage to have a planned meeting with Erdoğan. The pastor was freed the following month, but it’s unclear what led to that decision.
More on the case here:
https://www.occrp.org/en/investigat...2018-attempt-to-free-us-pastor-held-in-turkey
