The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, June 21, removed Jay Solomon, one of its highly respected chief foreign affairs correspondent, after it was found that he was involved in illegal activities. Evidences emerged which showed Solomon involved in many potential commercial deals among which was an arms sales to foreign government, in association with an international businessman who was one of Solomon’s key sources in one of the story Wall Street Journal published.
Farhad Azima, an aviation mogul born in Iran has offered Solomon 10 percent stake in a new company named Denx LLC.
Azima provided the CIA with weapons in the past. However, as of now, it is not clear whether Solomon formally accepted the stake in the company, or ever received any type of monetary compensation.
WSJ reporter embroiled in illegal deals
Steve Severinghaus, a spokesman for the WSJ, stated to The Associated Press that the organization was in dismay by the poor judgment and behavior demonstrated by Solomon, who was a senior reporter. In addition, he also said that the WSJ would be continuing its investigations. However, it is clear that Solomon had infringed journalistic ethics, as well as the standards of the publication. The matter came to light when Associated Press decided to write and publish an investigative report on Azima.
During the investigation, AP obtained several text messages and emails that were exchanged between Solomon and the Iranian businessman apart from the operating agreement for the fledgling company Denx. The agreement was dated March 2015 and listed an evident stake in the name of the WSJ journalist. As a part of a journalistic ethic and way of working, AP had to report the issue to the WSJ and ask for a response in the matter.
Hackers steal documents
According to Azima’s lawyer, the documents linking Solomon and Azima were stolen by hackers. On Wednesday, June 21, Jay told the Associated Press that he has clearly made mistakes and has entered a world beyond his understanding. However, he denied doing any business with Azima in the past and clearly stated that he had no intentions of doing so in the future.
He also apologized to his bosses and his fellow workers before leaving.
Jay Solomon linked to Denx
It was revealed by Scott Modell and Gary Bernsten, both partners at Denx and ex-CIA officers that, the journalist was actively involved in the discussion of deals with the businessman. However, at the same time, he continued to cultivate his relationship with the Iranian businessman as a source of the stories he wrote for the Wall Street Journal. However, both Modell and Bernsten stated to AP that Solomon pulled out of Denx shortly after the business was set up and his involvement does not add up to much. According to Florida business registration records, Denx downed its shutter in 2016.
