Why Wall Street Journal Fired Jay Solomon, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent

The chief foreign affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal and a veteran reporter, Jay Solomon, was fired Wednesday after an Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed he was engaged in questionable business arrangements with Farhad Azima, one of his key sources and an Iranian-born arms dealer.

Solomon was offered a 10 percent stake in a fledgling company called Denx LLC by Azima, the Iranian-born aviation magnate, and CIA arms dealer, according to the investigation. However, the investigation could not make it clear whether Solomon received any money or accepted the proposal, according to multiple reports.

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The Wall Street Journal released a statement Wednesday announcing the firing of its leading reporter. “The allegations raised by this reporting are serious. While our own investigation continues, we have concluded that Mr. Solomon violated his ethical obligations as a reporter, as well as our standards," the Journal said.

Azima, a U.S. citizen tied to Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra scandal, was a key source for Solomon. WSJ’s chief foreign affairs correspondent apologized for his actions Wednesday, however, he claimed he was not engaged in any business deals with Azima. “I clearly made mistakes in my reporting and entered into the world I didn’t understand,” Solomon told the AP on Wednesday.

“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.”

As a part of the investigation, the AP collected emails and texts exchanged between Azima and Solomon. The investigative article also spoke about Solomon's stake in a fledgling company. Even though the investigation did not make it clear if Solomon had accepted the deal, his name was in an operating agreement.

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The emails reviewed by AP revealed that Azima wrote to Solomon in April 2015 about a “$725 million air-operations, surveillance and reconnaissance support contract with the United Arab Emirates that would allow planes to spy on activity inside nearby Iran.” Two other ex-CIA employees and Denx partners, Gary Bernsten and Scott Modell told AP Solomon was involved in discussing proposed deals with the CIA arms dealer, Azima.

After the April 2015 email about the air support deal, Azima wrote to Solomon, Bernsten and Modell: “We all wish best of luck to Jay on his first defense sale.”

In a separate text message in October 2014, Solomon wrote to Azima: “Our business opportunities are so promising.” In another text message, also in October, Solomon enquired whether Azima disclosed anything about their business plans to any other mutual friend. “Hell no!” Azima had responded. The CIA arms dealer was under the scanner as a part of a global corruption case concerning a hotel sale in Tblisi, Georgia, the AP reported in the article.

The journalists and Solomon's colleagues at WSJ were surprised by the sudden staff meeting called Wednesday to inform about Solomon's firing. “I can’t imagine this will go away quickly,” one of the reporters at WSJ told the Washington Post. “Someone must be going through all his articles now. It might take a little while to know exactly how bad this is.”