Mysterious Investors Behind $1 Billion Land Purchase Near Key Air Force Base; Investors Bought Nearly $1 Billion in Land Near a California Air Force Base. Officials Want to Know Who Exactly They Are, and related stories

Mysterious Investors Behind $1 Billion Land Purchase Near Key Air Force Base:

The Air Force is investigating nearly $1 billion in mysterious land purchases near a key Air Force base in California, but after eight months of digging has been unable to uncover the investors behind the deal, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

A mysterious group known as Flannery Associates has gobbled up nearly 52,000 acres of agricultural land in California, including areas near Travis Air Force Base, sparking concerns of foreign influence that lead to the Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review Office’s probe, according to the WSJ. Flannery maintains it is majority American-owned, with the remaining 3% of invested capital originating from Ireland and Britain, but local authorities, lawmakers and federal agencies continue to probe the opaque company.

“Any speculation that Flannery’s purchases are motivated by the proximity to Travis Air Force Base” is unfounded, an attorney for the firm told the WSJ.

In the last five years, Flannery has become the largest landowner in Solano County, the outlet reported, citing county officials and public records.

Flannery told Solano County it “is owned by a group of families looking to diversify their portfolio from equities into real assets, including agricultural land in the western United States,” according to the WSJ.

“We don’t know who Flannery is, and their extensive purchases do not make sense to anybody in the area,” Democratic California Rep. John Garamendi, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee’s Readiness group whose district includes the area where Flannery is buying land, told the outlet. “The fact that they’re buying land purposefully right up to the fence at Travis raises significant questions.” —>READ MORE HERE

Investors Bought Nearly $1 Billion in Land Near a California Air Force Base. Officials Want to Know Who Exactly They Are:

Flannery Associates’ purchases near Travis Air Force Base have alarmed local and federal officials

Government officials are investigating large land acquisitions near a major air force base northeast of San Francisco, concerned that foreign interests could be behind the investment group that purchased the land.

At the center of the probes is Flannery Associates, which has spent nearly $1 billion in the last five years to become the largest landowner in California’s Solano County, according to county officials and public records.

An attorney representing Flannery said it is controlled by U.S. citizens and that 97% of its invested capital comes from U.S. investors, with the remaining 3% from British and Irish investors. Flannery previously told Solano County the entity “is owned by a group of families looking to diversify their portfolio from equities into real assets, including agricultural land in the western United States.”

“Any speculation that Flannery’s purchases are motivated by the proximity to Travis Air Force Base” is unfounded, the attorney said.

The Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review Office has been investigating Flannery’s purchases of roughly 52,000 acres, including around Travis Air Force Base, according to people familiar with the matter. But the office, which has been looking into the matter for about eight months, has yet to be able to determine who is backing the group, one of the people said.

“We don’t know who Flannery is, and their extensive purchases do not make sense to anybody in the area,” said Rep. John Garamendi, (D., Calif.) the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee’s readiness panel. “The fact that they’re buying land purposefully right up to the fence at Travis raises significant questions.”

Garamendi and Rep. Mike Thompson (D., Calif.), whose districts include the area where land has been bought, have asked for an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., a multiagency panel that can advise the president to block or unwind foreign acquisitions for security concerns.

The U.S. Agriculture Department also has inquired about Flannery’s ownership, according to correspondence reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Nearly all of the land is in unincorporated parts of Solano County, and most of it is zoned for agricultural use, records show. Several of the parcels include wind turbines.

The Journal found that at least 20 parcels surround Travis, known as the “Gateway to the Pacific” and home to the largest wing of the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, which provides planes to refuel other aircraft and those to transport military personnel and supplies, including munitions used in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

USAF investigates mystery company that’s bought 55,000 acres around major California air force base costing $800 MILLION – amid security fears it may be connected to a hostile power



Officials Probe $1 Billion Land Purchases Near Air Base

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