An agriculture land acquisition company that is reported to have bought up land on three sides of a major U.S. Air Force base in California is now suing the farmers who sold them the land.
Flannery Associates LLC spent nearly $800 million to buy the land surrounding Travis Air Force Base, then filed a $510 million lawsuit in May against the farmers.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) told NewsNation the suit is likely a tactic to financially destroy the farmers.
Mr. Garamendi said some of the families he has spoken to did not want to sell to Flannery, but the company made them offers for huge amounts. Flannery’s lawsuit accuses the farmers of conspiring to inflate the price of the farms.
“It’s a suit designed to force the farmers to lawyer up, spend tens of thousands of dollars on lawyering, and maybe at the end of the day, bankrupt themselves,” Mr. Garamendi said. “In fact, that has happened to at least one family that I know of and I’ve heard rumors that another family simply said we can’t afford the lawyers.”
Intimidation Suspected
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review Office has not been able to determine who is funding the purchases, even after an 18-month investigation into the purchase of the 140 properties around the Air Force base.
Based on property records, the land covers California’s Solano County from the Sacramento River to Fairfield, including land directly bordering three sides of the Air Force base, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Sarah Donnelly is a member of the city council for Rio Vista, California, which borders the land purchased by Flannery. She said she is highly suspicious of Flannery’s motives.
“The Flannery group is an unknown entity,” Ms. Donnelly told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. “Based on the fact that they are suing our farmers, their intentions are suspect.”
“I can only assume they are suing as a form of intimidation,” she added.
ABC7 reported the company began purchasing the land in 2018, and accelerated purchases in 2022 and 2023.
