The United States Air Force is looking into a corporation that bought land for $800 million close to Travis Air Force Base, one of the most important defense facilities in the country. However, after eight months of research, investigators have been unable to establish who is responsible or rule out any threat to national security.
“We’re very, very concerned about this,” said Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat from the Bay Area. He emphasized the difficulty in obtaining any information on the mysterious buyer of the land.
Congressman John Garamendi alerted the United States Air Force, resulting in a federal investigation.
John Garamendi shared that he has every reason in the world to believe that the already sold land is adjacent to a critical national security platform Travis Air Force Base. “Therefore — an area where spy operations or any other nefarious activity could take place…that could detrimentally impact the ability of Travis Air Force Base to operate in a moment of national emergency.”
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
According to public documents, “Flannery Associates LLC” began purchasing land near the military facility in 2018. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the controversy. According to the investigators, the acquisitions increased in 2023.
However, no one, even local, state, and federal officials, can manage to figure out who is behind the group.
“Who are these people?” John Garamendi said. He is suspicious about where they got the money to buy the land for five to ten times the average price that others would pay for this area.
Even after eight months of investigation, federal agents, according to John Garamendi, are still unable to obtain those answers.
THE UNKNOWN
“To this day we don’t know where these people are coming from,” John Garamendi said.
John Garamendi claims the lawyer for Flannery Associates said the company is made up of a group of families, 97% of whom are supposedly Americans, who are wanting to diversify their portfolio from stocks to real assets, including agricultural land.
The attorney for Flannery Associates wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one of several authorities looking into the situation.
“No foreign person or group holds any significant interest or substantial control over Flannery, either now or at the time of any land purchase made by Flannery,” according to the letter.
The corporation also stated that it does not comment on its investments.
Meanwhile, John Garamendi claims that the firm continues to have a negative impact on the farming community in Solano County. He claims that Flannery is suing at least ten landowners, accusing them of engaging in an illegal plan to prevent the corporation from purchasing their land.
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