The US can prosecute Halkbank for assisting with Iran sanctions evasion
25/10/2024
The US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in US v Zarrab (Turkiye Halk Bankasi) has, for a 2nd time, found that Halkbank is not protected from criminal prosecution.
Halkbank, a state-owned Turkish bank, is charged with conspiring to help Iran evade US sanctions and using gold exports and fraudulent humanitarian assistance transactions to permit the Government of Iran, the Central Bank of Iran, and the National Iranian Oil Company access billions of dollars of restricted funds.
The bank asked the charges to be dismissed on foreign sovereign immunity grounds.
In 2021, the same court ruled that Halkbank could be prosecuted and that foreign sovereign immunity did not apply.
Halkbank appealed to the US Supreme Court, which found that the District Court had jurisdiction and dismissed the claims to immunity under the statute. The Supreme Court remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit for a ruling on immunity under common law. The Court found immunity did not apply and has remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its decision.
For other US sanctions judgments, see the Judgments pages of this site.
Source
- https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/bc774043-984d-42ae-af3c-a040e9514ceb/1/doc/20-3499_2_opn.pdf#xml=https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/bc774043-984d-42ae-af3c-a040e9514ceb/1/hilite/
- https://globalsanctions.com/2024/10/court-says-us-can-prosecute-halkbank-for-assisting-with-iran-sanctions-evasion/
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