How the U.S. Paid for a Foreign Secret Agent to Court OK Guv
A secret agent working for an authoritarian ex-Soviet republic who allegedly bribed Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) also pursued ties with Oklahoma and its Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt—with U.S. federal funds helping to underwrite his efforts, The Daily Beast has found.
The Daily Beast previously reported that the unnamed operative, who allegedly arranged corrupt contracts between the government of Azerbaijan and the Cuellar family, is Elshan Baloghlanov, a former official at the country’s Los Angeles consulate and the owner of the D.C.-area firm WCC International. The Daily Beast further revealed that WCC International not only matches the description of the company that allegedly supplied some of the illicit cash to the Democrat’s immediate relatives, but also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in American foreign aid money as a subcontractor for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Now, The Daily Beast can reveal that at least some of that USAID money paid for Baloghlanov and WCC International to conduct outreach efforts in Oklahoma that led directly to Stitt visiting Azerbaijan in 2021, and even meeting with its dictatorial President Ilham Aliyev.