Arrest of Director of a Turkish State Bank for Circumventing Iran Sanctions

The director of a Turkish state bank has been arrested in the U.S. for allegedly circumventing sanctions against Iran. According to Reuters, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy general manager of Halkbank, is accused of collaborating with Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish businessman, to bypass Iran sanctions. U.S. prosecutors have charged Zarrab with transferring hundreds of millions of dollars for the Iranian government and Iranian companies between 2010 and 2015, thus evading U.S. sanctions against Iran. Reuters reports that Atilla is likely to appear in court in Manhattan on Tuesday. Turkish officials have stated they are unaware of Atilla's arrest. U.S. prosecutors claim that Zarrab, along with others, deceived American banks through the establishment of shell companies and fake invoices to circumvent Iran sanctions. Zarrab was arrested in Turkey in 2013 on charges of financial corruption, which caused a significant uproar due to his connections with then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Additionally, Zarrab's case has received extensive media coverage in Iran due to his ties with Babak Zanjani, an Iranian billionaire and oil broker during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. Zarrab, 33, who is currently in custody in the U.S., was arrested in Miami last March. Ben Brafman, who previously represented Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is among Zarrab's lawyers. The New York Times reported on Monday that Zarrab has added Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, to his legal team. Giuliani is a close associate of U.S. President Donald Trump. In this context, the former mayor has joined Zarrab's legal team amid the fruitless efforts of the Turkish Minister of Justice to secure Zarrab's release from prison in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Justice has also accused Zarrab's brother of circumventing Iran sanctions. A federal prosecutor in New York stated that the U.S. President has 'removed' him.