The Wall Street Journal fired one of their top reporters after an investigation by the AP concluding that he “engaged in questionable business arrangements with a source”.
The reporter, Jay Solomon, was WSJ’s “chief foreign correspondent reporter” until it was revealed that one of his primary sources, Farhad Azima, known for being an arms-dealer relative to the CIA, offered Solomon a stake in a company of his.
The Wall Street Journal has fired one of its top reporters after an Associated Press investigation revealed he had engaged in questionable business arrangements with a source.
Jay Solomon, the paper’s chief foreign correspondent, was let go after the AP revealed one of his sources, Farhad Azim, a CIA arms dealer, had offered him a stake in one of his companies.
“I clearly made mistakes in my reporting and entered into a world I didn’t understand.” Solomon told the AP. “I never entered into any business with Farhad Azima, nor did I ever intend to. But I understand why the emails and the conversations I had with Mr. Azima may look like I was involved in some seriously troubling activities. I apologize to my bosses and colleagues at the Journal, who were nothing but great to me.”
The Wall Street Journal said in a statement it was “dismayed” by Solomon’s actions and “poor judgment.”
“While our own investigation continues, we have concluded that Mr. Solomon violated his ethical obligations as a reporter, as well as our standards,” the paper said.
The investigation by the AP, oddly enough, was a byproduct of a totally different investigation involving an Iranian-born “aviation magnate”.
Azima is allegedly tied to mob figures but was under a level of immunity due to his work as a gunrunner for the CIA.
