A mysterious company has bought up nearly $1 billion worth of land near a major air force base in California — prompting concern that a foreign entity could be using the investment to harm US national security.
Flannery Associates, a limited liability company that is registered in Delaware, has purchased around 52,000 acres of mostly farmland near Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, which lies about 60 miles northeast of San Francisco.
The firm, which in five years has become the largest landowner in the county, is now the subject of an inquiry by the federal government, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The eyebrow-raising purchases follow fears expressed by lawmakers last year after a Chinese company bought 300 acres of farmland near a US Air Force base in Grand Forks, ND, which hosts sensitive drone technology.
The buying spree by Flannery has led the Agriculture Department to request information on the company’s ownership structure, according to the Journal.
A lawyer for Flannery told the Journal the company is controlled by US nationals and that 97% of its invested capital is from American investors while the rest is from British and Irish sources.
Last month, company sent a formal response letter to the Agriculture Department, which was provided to The Post by Flannery lawyer Richard Melnyk.
“No foreign person…or group of foreign persons 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, dated June 21.
The Journal reported that at least 20 parcels of land that was bought up by Flannery Associates surround the California base, which is home to the largest wing of the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, which provides aircraft that is used to refuel other planes.
The Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review Office, which has been investigating the purchases by Flannery for months, has not been able to determine who is behind the company, according to the Journal.
“Any speculation that Flannery’s purchases are motivated by the proximity to Travis Air Force Base” is unfounded, the attorney told the Journal.
Flannery once told Solano County officials that the firm “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.”
Lawmakers, however, are demanding answers.
“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-Caifl.) 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.”
Flannery is not required to disclose its owners because it is an LLC that was registered in Delaware.
Melnyk refused further requests for comment by The Post.
Bill Emlen, the administrator of Solano County, told the Journal that local officials have also tried without success to determine the identity of those behind the firm.
Mitch Mashburn, the county supervisor, told the Journal that the company has not been in communication with local officials about what it intends to do with the land.
“The majority of the land they’re purchasing is dry farmland,” Mashburn told the Journal.
“I don’t see where that land can turn a profit to make it worth almost a billion dollars in investment.”
A spokesperson for the air force base told the Journal that military officials “are aware of the multiple land purchases near the base and are actively working internally and externally with other agencies.”
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