NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) – Turkish state-run lender Halkbank and the U.S. Justice Division have reached a deferred prosecution settlement, the decide overseeing the long-running U.S. legal case in opposition to the financial institution stated in a court docket submitting on Monday, with out offering additional particulars of the deal.
Within the case, prosecutors had accused of fraud, cash laundering and conspiracy for allegedly serving to Iran evade American financial sanctions.
Halkbank’s case has lengthy been a thorn in U.S.-Turkey relations, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan calling it an “illegal, ugly” step.
The settlement was introduced after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom in October 2025 let stand a federal appeals court docket determination that permit the prosecution proceed.
U.S. prosecutors initially charged Halkbank in 2019, throughout President Donald Trump’s first White Home time period.
Erdogan met with Trump in September, and expressed hope thefollowing month that the assembly would resolve numerous points between the nations.
The Turkish president stated Trump instructed him on the White Home and in a subsequent telephone name that “the Halkbank downside is completed for us.”
SEVERAL RELATED CRIMINAL CASES
Halkbank was accused of utilizing cash servicers and entrance corporations in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in its sanctions-evasion scheme.
U.S. prosecutors stated the financial institution secretly transferred $20 billion of restricted funds, transformed oil income into gold and money to learn Iranian pursuits and documented faux meals shipments to justify transfers of oil proceeds.
Halkbank pleaded not responsible to financial institution fraud, cash laundering and conspiracy fees.
The case was an outgrowth of a number of associated legal circumstances, together with in opposition to Turkish-Iranian gold dealer Reza Zarrab and former Halkbank govt Mehmet Hakan Atilla.
Zarrab pleaded responsible to financial institution fraud, cash laundering and conspiracy fees in 2017, however has not been sentenced.
Hetestified in opposition to Atilla, who was convicted in 2018 of financial institution fraud and conspiracy fees. Atilla returned to Turkey in 2019 after serving most of a 32-month jail time period. He has denied wrongdoing.
TREK THROUGH U.S. COURTS
Halkbank’s case has taken a circuitous path via the U.S. courts.
Berman initially dominated in 2020 that Halkbank didn’t deserve immunity from prosecution.
The next yr, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals in Manhattan upheld that ruling however on completely different grounds. It saidHalkbank may very well be prosecuted beneath the federal Overseas Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, as a result of its alleged misconduct concerned industrial exercise not lined by that regulation.
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Courtroom briefly voided the prosecution, regardless of agreeing that Congress’ need to defend international nations and their instrumentalities from civil legal responsibility didn’t cowl legal circumstances. As an alternative, it ordered the 2nd Circuit to extra totally assessment whether or not immunity beneath centuries-old frequent regulation shielded Halkbank.
The appeals court docket discovered no such defend in October 2024, prompting Halkbank’s second Supreme Courtroom attraction. The Trump administration argued that the frequent regulation doesn’t defend international state-owned corporations from legal prosecution.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York)
