Richard Berman

Turkish state lender Halkbank will be arraigned in a U.S. court next week to face a federal indictment for alleged evading Iran sanctions.

The bank was represented by the law firm of King & Spalding at a hearing on Feb. 25 and attorneys said it agreed to appear at the proceedings.

Halkbank was charged in October with attempts to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran.

A U.S. appeals court in Manhattan granted Turkish state lender Halkbank a temporary pause in its Iran sanctions evasion case.

The temporary stay in the case was granted on Feb. 3 to allow for the bank's requests to be heard by a three-judge panel.
The court said it would take up Halkbank's requests on an expedited basis.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman wants lawyers in a case involving Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab and Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla to detail any internal communications they had with the U.S. and Turkish governments.

Federal Judge Richard Berman announced after sending jurors home Dec. 1 that one juror would be trimmed from the panel for sleeping through testimony in the New York courtroom.

Hakan Atilla, a deputy general manager of Halkbank who was arrested in the U.S. in March on charges of cooperating with Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab in order to evade sanctions against Iran, has requested that a total of 15 Turkish witnessed be listened to by the court.   

Rudy Giuliani and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey have penned two fresh affidavits explaining their role in representing a wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader accused of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions. However, the government told a New York federal judge on May 22 that more information is needed to rule out a conflict of interest.

A U.S. judge on May 16 signed a two-page order demanding to know if Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Mukasey, two lawyers of the Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, produced any "work performed for President Trump's administration, including participation on United States commissions, such as those relating to the so-called 'Muslim ban' executive order," according to various reports.

A U.S. judge on May 1 said he wanted to know whether Iran employs any lawyers for a wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader accused of helping that country evade U.S. sanctions, a team that includes former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

The Iranian-born Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab has denied charges against him in the case over attempting to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran, while Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a deputy general manager of Halkbank, said he has no connection to the case. 

A U.S. judge on April 5 ordered that he be given more detail about former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and another lawyer's representation of a Turkish gold trader, Reza Zarrab, charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran.