Reza Zarrab

August 3, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

Alleged Turkish Money Launderer to Face Trial 

A Utah court last week released Turkish businessman Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, whom Austria extradited last year, as he awaits trial in U.S. federal court for several money laundering schemes that allegedly...

April 19, 2023 | |

Supreme Court Allows Iran Sanctions-Evasion Case Against Turkish Bank to Proceed

The Supreme Court ruled on April 19 that the Turkish state-owned Halkbank remains subject to criminal prosecution in U.S. courts for conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran....

November 29, 2021 | Eric S. Edelman, Aykan Erdemir

Turkey is Collateral Damage in Erdoğan’s Hostage Diplomacy

His erratic policies scare away tourists and foreign capital.

October 26, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir |

Landmark Iran Sanctions Ruling Against Turkish Public Lender Builds U.S. Deterrence

A U.S. appeals court ruled on October 22 that Halkbank, a public lender majority-owned by Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund, cannot claim sovereign immunity under U.S. law to scuttle a federal criminal case...

September 3, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir |

U.S. Should Intensify Efforts to Extradite Turkish Money Laundering Suspect

An Austrian court on August 25 tentatively granted Ankara’s request to extradite Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, a Turkish businessman Austrian authorities arrested on June 19 at the request of the U.S. Department...

May 13, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir |

Commerce Department Targets Former Turkish Banker for Evading Iran Sanctions

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security on May 5 announced it would deny export privileges to Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former deputy general manager of Halkbank, Turkey’s second-largest...

April 20, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir |

Halkbank’s Last-Minute Effort to Scuttle Iran Sanctions-Evasion Case

Halkbank, a public lender majority-owned by Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund, claimed on April 12 before a U.S. court that the bank is immune from charges U.S. prosecutors brought in October 2019, which...

March 25, 2021 | Mark Dubowitz, Aykan Erdemir

Manhattan Court Gave Erdogan’s Pet Bank a Get-out-of-Jail-Free Card

Turkey’s currency is in free fall. International investors are fleeing the country. Accusations of bribery and support for terrorism abound. And something clearly is rotten at the heart of the Turkish...

January 8, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir, John Lechner

Turkey’s Frantic Gold Rush Points to a Financial Crisis Ahead

As ordinary citizens seek to preserve their wealth, President Recep Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party is finding new ways to take advantage of the gold rush.

November 8, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, Jonathan Schanzer

Turkish bank rulings should be a wakeup call for global financial institutions

Turkish banks are taking a beating in American courts. First, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) refused to dismiss an indictment accusing Halkbank, majority-owned by the Turkish...

November 3, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, Umut Can Fidan

Zarrab Was Not the Only Iranian Ringleader to Exploit Turkey’s Permissive Jurisdiction

Reza Zarrab, the Turkey-based ringleader of Iran’s sanctions-evasion network who laundered over $20 billion in the biggest sanctions-evasion scheme in recent history, continues to make headlines. A...

October 7, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir |

Turkish Public Lender Fails Again to Scuttle Iran Sanctions Evasion Case

A Manhattan federal judge on October 1 refused to dismiss an indictment accusing Halkbank, a public lender majority-owned by the Turkish government, of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions. In the event of...

September 23, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir |

Iran’s Turkey-Based Sanctions-Evasion Scheme More Extensive Than Previously Reported

Iran’s sanctions-evasion schemes involving Turkey “started earlier, lasted longer, extended further, and involved more people and countries” than previously known, according to a series of deeply...

July 27, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, John Lechner

Trump Should Teach Erdogan a Lesson in Law, Not Corruption

The president offered to help Turkey’s strongman beat U.S. courts, John Bolton has revealed. It only helps Iran.

May 21, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir |

Erdogan’s Fourth Attempt to Take Over Turkey’s Largest Private Bank

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 12 asked the central executive committee of his Justice and Development Party to speed up plans for the government to take over a 28 percent stake in Isbank,...

April 3, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, Philip Kowalski

Turkish Public Lender Pleads Not Guilty for Evading Iran Sanctions

Halkbank, a public lender majority-owned by the Turkish government, pleaded not guilty at a Manhattan court on March 31 to criminal charges that it helped Iran illicitly transfer tens of billions of dollars...

April 2, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir |

Turkey’s leak of Istanbul killing shows unlikely marriage with Iran under strain

Senior Turkish officials last week implicated two Iranian diplomats for instigating the November 2019 assassination of Iranian dissident Masoud Molavi Vardanjani in Istanbul. Until recently, Turkish and...

January 29, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, Brenna Knippen

U.S. Prosecutors Propose Massive Contempt Fine for Sanctions-Evading Turkish Bank

U.S. prosecutors in New York asked a federal judge on January 21 to impose escalating fines on Turkey’s Halkbank for failing to respond in court to criminal charges that it helped Iran evade U.S. sanctions....

November 14, 2019 | Eric S. Edelman, David J. Kramer

Erdoğan’s Undeserving and Underwhelming Visit to DC

Trump’s ongoing bromance with Turkey’s authoritarian leader notwithstanding, Congress and the Administration must act to make clear that the United States isn’t giving Erdoğan a blank check to act in the Middle East.

October 24, 2019 | Jonathan Schanzer, Aykan Erdemir

Trump’s Turkey problem

In what may well have been the shortest duration of sanctions in modern history, President Trump on Oct. 23 lifted all of the sanctions he had imposed on Turkey just nine days earlier for “escalating...