Reza Zarrab

Shares in Turkey's Halkbank tumbled as much as 16 percent early yesterday, the sharpest drop on record, after U.S. prosecutors charged one of its senior executives with participating in a multi-year scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran.

U.S. prosecutors on Match 28 charged a senior executive at a Turkish state-owned bank with participating in a multi-year scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran, escalating a case that has added to tensions between the United States and Turkey ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to Ankara on March 30.

U.S. prosecutors on Match 28 charged an executive at a Turkish state-owned bank with participating in a multi-year scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran, escalating a case that has added to tensions between the United States and Turkey.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired on March 11, is in league with the followers of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen against Turkey, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has said, adding that his firing was "totally the decision of the U.S. government."

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions abruptly asked the remaining 46 chief federal prosecutors left over from the Obama administration to resign on March 10, including Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who had been asked to stay on in November 2016 by then President-elect Donald Trump and is the chief prosecutor in the case of an arrested Turkish-Iranian businessman.

The arrested Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who is being tried in the United States on money laundering and sanction-breaching charges, has told the court he has been using Prozac anti-depressant drugs. 

He did not cite the reason for the usage and did not state how long he had been using them for. 

The arrested Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who is being tried in the U.S. on charges of fraud, violating sanctions on Iran, committing bankruptcy fraud, and laundering money, has reportedly been diagnosed with depression. 

Iran's supreme court has upheld the death penalty against Iranian businessman Babek Zanjani for corruption, the judiciary said on Dec. 3, a sentence critics say will mask the identity of senior officials who supported him. 

A jury trial against Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab that was scheduled to begin on Jan. 23, 2017, has been suspended until Oct. 16 after the judge in the fraud case ruled that the defendant's legal team required extra time to prepare for an additional indictment regarding Zarrab's alleged ties to Hezbollah.

Deutsche Bank and Bank of America were swindled by Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, the office of Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara, who is the lead prosecutor against the controversial figure, has alleged.