Halk Bankası

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 5 that there was a serious chain of plots in the United States after the U.S. court verdict found Hakan Atilla, the former deputy chief executive officer of state lender Halkbank, guilty of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

Turkey’s Halkbank said on Jan. 4 that it has not been party to U.S. case of Turkish banker Hakan Atilla nor is there administrative or financial decision taken against bank by court.

A US jury on Wednesday found a Turkish banker guilty of helping Iran evade US sanctions, after a nearly four-week trial that has strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Turkey.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive at Turkey's majority state-owned Halkbank, was convicted on five of six counts he faced, including bank fraud and conspiracy, in Manhattan federal court.

A U.S. judge on Jan. 2 refused to order a mistrial in the case of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former deputy general manager at Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank who is charged with helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

U.S. prosecutors on Dec. 19 urged a New York jury to find Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive at Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank, guilty of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, while Atilla’s lawyers said he was a “blameless pawn.”

Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül has said he will tell his U.S. counterpart Jeff Sessions that the New York trial of former Halkbank deputy general manager Hakan Atilla, charged with helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, is “not legal and should be ended.”

Three of aides of Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab were arrested in Istanbul on Dec. 15 on charges of “espionage,” accused of trying to send documents to a New York court handling the case into a former Turkish banker accused of taking part in a scheme to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

Reza Zarrab - the key witness in a New York trial over alleged skirting of U.S. economic sanctions against Iran - has been accused of sexually assaulting a cellmate, according to a lawsuit filed on Dec. 6.Reza Zarrab - the key witness in a New York trial over alleged skirting of U.S.

Turkish officials on Dec. 7 seized a private jet at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport belonging to Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who became a key witness in the case of Turkish bank executive Hakan Atilla tried over evading U.S. sanctions on Iran.

A Turkish bank executive on trial in New York over violating U.S. sanctions on Iran has denied having links with Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab in his first interrogation after being arrested in the U.S.