US Air Force authorities are examining a sequence of substantial land acquisitions valued at more than $1 billion. These buys were carried out by an enigmatic investment entity, Flannery Associates LLC. 

Flannery Associates purchased the 52,000 acres of land near Travis Air Force Base, which provided no agricultural value. 

Federal officials, now investigating the rather unusual acquisition of the property, raised concern about foreign motives behind the massive purchase.  

Travis Air Force Base, situated in Solano County, California, houses approximately 7,600 active-duty USAF personnel, 4,250 Air Force Reserve personnel, along with numerous combat and support aircraft. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, the obscure financial group has become the largest landowner in Solano County. That’s after paying for what it called “multiples of fair market value” of over 52,000 acres and 300 parcels of land near Travis. 

Acquiring the dry arid farmland took at least a year for Flannery Associates to complete, even suing a group of Californian property owners for inflating prices in May 2023. 

According to Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn, a significant portion of the land being purchased by Flannery Associates LLC is non-irrigated farmland.

Mashburn expressed skepticism about the profitability of such land and questioned whether it justifies the nearly billion-dollar investment.

The USAF’s Foreign Investment Risk Review Office has been investigating Flannery Associates, but has yet to determine who is backing the organization.

Recent purchases by China-backed actors may give some indication. The Washington Examiner found that Chinese investors in the US have gone from owning 69,295 acres in 2011 to nearly 400,000 acres since the end of 2021. 

Major Jeremy Fox circulated a memo concerning a pattern observed in Chinese subnational espionage campaigns, wherein commercial economic development projects are used to establish proximity to military installations.