Reading mode Exit reading mode

Army Finds Michael Flynn Violated the Emoluments Clause With 2015 Payment Tied to Russia's RT, Seeks $38,557 (2022)

The inspector general's memo, released under the Freedom of Information Act, listed the RT gala, an October 2015 Kaspersky Government Security Solutions conference, and consulting work for Inovo BV, a Dutch company that assisted the Turkish government, totaling nearly $450,000 per Stars and Stripes. The Army's determination and debt recoupment concerned the RT payment only. Flynn called the inquiry 'persecution and harassment and embarrassment.'

Record summary

Grade

Outside the grading scale: Pre-Office Conduct

International crime

Pre-office conduct — outside the official-power scale

Conduct from before office: Donald Trump’s before the June 2015 campaign launch, and an administration official’s before their first appointment or between terms. Scale and definitions

Status
Concluded
Legal status
Official finding
Before Office
Michael Flynn (all before-office records)
Incident date
Record updated
Location
Moscow, Russia
Category
Corruption & Self-Dealing
Legal posture
Documented
Verification
Cross-referenced
Sources
2 cited
Stable ID
michael-flynn-army-emoluments-finding-foreign-payments
Posture note
Department of Defense Office of Inspector General memo to the Army (January 2021); Army determination of an Emoluments Clause violation (April 28, 2022) and notice of debt recoupment of $38,557.06 (May 2, 2022). Administrative finding, not a criminal charge.
Alleged responsible parties
  • Michael Flynn, Retired U.S. Army lieutenant general (private individual in 2015)

Key points

  • Retired service members must obtain approval from their service secretary and the Secretary of State before accepting payments from foreign governments or entities they control
  • The January 2021 DoD inspector general memo found no record that Flynn sought approval for payments from RT, a Kaspersky-affiliated entity, or Inovo BV in 2015
  • The Army determined on April 28, 2022 that Flynn violated the Emoluments Clause
  • An Army lawyer's May 2, 2022 letter said Flynn's failure 'to obtain the approvals of the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of State resulted in a violation of the Emoluments Clause' and requested recoupment of $38,557.06
  • Flynn later pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about separate, in-office conduct and was pardoned in 2020; CNN reported the pardon allowed the inspector general investigation to proceed

What happened

After retiring from the Army, Michael Flynn accepted paid engagements in 2015 tied to foreign governments, according to a January 2021 memo from the Defense Department's acting inspector general, Sean O'Donnell. They included a December 2015 gala in Moscow celebrating the tenth anniversary of RT, the Russian state-controlled broadcaster, where he sat beside Vladimir Putin; an October 2015 conference sponsored by Kaspersky Government Security Solutions, which the memo described as "an entity that appears to be controlled by the Russian government"; and consulting work for Inovo BV, a Dutch company that assisted the Turkish government. The inspector general found no record that Flynn had requested the required Army and State Department approvals.

  • Body: Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (memo to the Army, January 2021) and the Department of the Army.
  • Finding: On April 28, 2022 the Army determined that Flynn violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. A May 2, 2022 letter from an Army lawyer said it would ask the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to recoup $38,557.06, the amount tied to the RT appearance.
  • Outcome: An administrative finding and debt recoupment, not a criminal charge. The sources do not report how much was collected.

Sources

  • "Retired general Michael Flynn cited for unauthorized foreign payments," Stars and Stripes, July 8, 2022.
  • "Army seeking to recoup nearly $40,000 from Michael Flynn for foreign payments," CNN, July 8, 2022.

Update log

  1. Added for the Before Office record. Flynn first joined the administration as National Security Advisor on January 20, 2017.

Sequence of events

  1. RT gala in Moscow

    Flynn is paid to appear at RT's 10th-anniversary gala in Moscow in December 2015 (the sources give the month, not the day).

  2. Army determination

    The Army determines Flynn violated the Emoluments Clause and forwards its findings to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

  3. Recoupment letter

    The Army notifies Flynn it will seek to recoup $38,557.06.

Sources

  1. Retired general Michael Flynn cited for unauthorized foreign payments — Stars and Stripes
  2. Army seeking to recoup nearly $40,000 from Michael Flynn for foreign payments — CNN

How this record was published

Manually curated This entry was added directly and does not carry an automated audit trail.

About our editorial methodology →

Related records

Similar by category, grade and tags.

  • Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

    Presidential Conflicts of Interest: Trump Refused to Divest from Business Empire

    Prior presidents had either sold their business assets or placed them in blind trusts managed by independent trustees. Trump placed his holdings in a revocable trust managed by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, with Trump retaining the ability to revoke the trust at any time and receiving financial reports about the businesses. The Office of Government Ethics stated the arrangement was insufficient to prevent conflicts. The Trump International Hotel in Washington, housed in a federally-owned building under a lease Trump's own government administered, became a center of lobbying activity, with foreign governments and domestic interest groups booking events and rooms to seek favorable treatment. Saudi Arabia spent more than $270,000 at the hotel in a single year.

  • Outside the grading scale: Pre-Office Conduct

    Musk Settles SEC Securities Fraud Charges Over "Funding Secured" Tweets (2018)

    The SEC alleged that Musk's August 2018 statements that he could take Tesla private at $420 per share, with funding secured, were false and misleading because he had not discussed specific deal terms with any potential financing partner. Musk settled two days after being charged, without admitting or denying the allegations.

  • Outside the grading scale: Pre-Office Conduct

    Rick Perry Indicted on Felony Abuse-of-Power and Coercion Charges Over Veto Threat (2014); Charges Dismissed (2016)

    The indictment alleged that Perry misused funds appropriated to the Public Integrity Unit (Count I) and coerced a public servant by threatening to veto the unit's funding unless the district attorney resigned (Count II). A state appeals court quashed the coercion count in 2015; the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals then ordered the whole indictment dismissed on separation-of-powers and First Amendment grounds. Perry was never tried.

  • Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

    Pay-to-Play: Trump's Dell Stock Precedes $9.7B Pentagon Deal, White House Ballroom Donors Win $50B in Contracts

    Trump bought Dell stock, then the Pentagon gave Dell a $9.7 billion contract two weeks later. Separately, 14 of 27 corporate donors to Trump's White House ballroom project won a combined $50 billion in new federal contracts within six months of giving. Ethics watchdogs call both pay-to-play; no formal violation has been charged.