Who’s buying up land around major Air Force base in California? ‘We have no idea’
Author: Newsroom | Published: August 1, 2023
The investment firm Flannery Associates has bought around $800 million worth of land around Travis Air Force Base in northern California’s Solano County
Flannery Associates filed a lawsuit in May against a group of landowners, accusing the farmers of conspiring to inflate the value of the property — drawing further scrutiny from policymakers including Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.).
https://en.protothema.gr/whos-buying-up-land-around-major-air-force-base-in-california-we-have-no-idea/
California landowners are sued for $510 million over 'inflated' real-estate prices
By Mike Scarcella
May 22, 202312:46 PM EDTUpdated 2 months ago
Flannery Associates LLC, an agricultural land buyer, is seeking more than $510 million in damages against defendants that include Barnes Family Ranch Associates LLC and Kirby Hill Associates LLC over the sale of properties in the Jepson Prairie and Montezuma Hills area of Solano County, California, between San Francisco and Sacramento. ( claiming they conspired to inflate the price of real estate by hundreds of millions of dollars and overcharged the company in violation of U.S. antitrust law.)
"If the conspirators had acted independently, they could have each individually negotiated a sale with Flannery and made tens of millions of dollars in profits," Flannery's attorneys said in the complaint. "But the conspirators wanted to make hundreds of millions."
In the lawsuit, Flannery said land it has acquired is used for interstate commerce. The company said various energy and power entities had contracts or proposals to operate on Flannery-owned land in the region.
The lawsuit alleged "the price-fixing conspiracy has resulted in the suppression and elimination of competition, leading to artificially high prices and fewer transactions."
The case is Flannery Associates LLC v. Barnes Family Ranch Associates LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, No. 2:23-cv-00927-TLN-AC.
For plaintiffs: Matthew Martino, Michael Menitove, Lance Etcheverry and Abraham Tabaie of Skadden Arps
For defendants: No appearances yet
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/california-landowners-are-sued-510-million-over-inflated-real-estate-prices-2023-05-19/
https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/201905210181
‘Mystery company’ buys $1B worth of land near US Air Force base
By Ariel Zilber
July 25, 2023 11:34am Updated
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 buying spree by Flannery has led the Agriculture Department to request information on the company’s ownership structure, according to the Journal.
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 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.
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.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/25/flannery-associates-buys-1b-worth-of-land-near-air-force-base/