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The Grand Turk
Turkey's Halkbank can be prosecuted over Iran sanction violations, US appeals court
2021-10-23
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A US appeals court on Friday rejected Halkbank's bid to dismiss an indictment accusing the state-owned Ottoman Turkish lender of helping Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
evade American sanctions.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said even if the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act shielded the bank, the charge against Halkbank falls under the commercial activity exception.

Prosecutors accused Halkbank of converting oil revenue into gold and then cash to benefit Iranian interests and documenting fake food shipments to justify transfers of oil proceeds.

They also said Halkbank helped Iran secretly transfer $20 billion of restricted funds, with at least $1 billion laundered through the US financial system.

Halkbank has pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
 to bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges over its alleged use of money servicers and front companies in Iran, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
 and the United Arab Emirates to evade sanctions.

The bank had argued that it is immune from prosecution under the federal Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act because it was "synonymous" with Turkey, which has immunity under that law.

Halkbank had been appealing an Oct. 1 ruling by US District Judge Richard Berman allowing it to be prosecuted.

Berman has overseen several related cases, including the conviction of former Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla and a guilty plea by Ottoman Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab.

Halkbank's case has complicated US-Ottoman Turkish relations, with Ottoman Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan backing Halkbank's innocence in a 2018 memo to then-US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
Related:
Halkbank: 2021-03-10 Chief Executive of Istanbul Exchange Steps Down
Halkbank: 2020-04-01 Turkey’s Halkbank pleaded ‘not guilty’ in fraud, money laundering and sanctions evasion case in US.
Halkbank: 2019-10-17 US charges Turkish bank with evading sanctions against Iran
Link


The Grand Turk
Chief Executive of Istanbul Exchange Steps Down
2021-03-10
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] A top Ottoman Turkish banker convicted in the US of busting sanctions on Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
resigned on Monday as the chief executive of the Istanbul stock exchange, state media reported.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who served as deputy director general of Ottoman Turkish lender Halkbank, was convicted in 2018 of plotting to help Iran evade US sanctions in a multi-billion dollar gold-for-oil scheme, AFP reported.

Atilla was released from jail in the US in 2019 after spending two years behind bars, and was named head of the stock exchange in October 2019.

Atilla resigned "of his own accord," the Borsa Istanbul exchange said in a statement, quoted by state news agency Anadolu.

A US federal court is expected to put Halkbank on trial later this year after charging it with six counts of fraud, money laundering and sanctions offences in 2019.

Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
 has dismissed the claims, insisting the case against Atilla was "politically motivated."

Atilla served as deputy CEO of Ottoman Turkish lender Halkbank and was responsible for international banking between 2011 and 2018.

Observers have suggested that Atilla’s resignation would be a preemptive step for a potential ruling against Halkbank, one of the three state-owned banks. A large fine and other punitive actions against Halkbank could rock The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
’s banking system.

US prosecutors allege Iran funneled some $20 billion in oil revenue through Halkbank to sidestep sanctions for its nuclear program in 2012 and 2013.

The case dates back to 2016, when Reza Zarrab, a businessperson with dual citizenship of Iran and Turkey, was taken into custody at Miami Airport in March.

He was charged with violating sanctions against Iran, money laundering, "conspiracy against the US," and defrauding US banks.

During Zarrab’s trial, Turkey sent a diplomatic note to the US embassy, requesting information about the businessperson, as it was not able to hear from Zarrab and was concerned about his life safety.

The court combined the cases of Atilla and Zarrab in April 2017.

Zarrab became a confessor in October 2017 and admitted that he used Halkbank to trade gold for natural gas. Following his confession, Attila remained the sole defendant in the trial.

The CEO of Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST) resigned on Monday, March 8, 2021 ahead of a US court appeal to a fraud case (Rooters)

Link


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Epstein, guard took bribe from Turkish gold dealer, Wikileaks managed shares prison phone
2019-08-13
[DailyMail] The security lapses at the jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself: How a guard took a bribe from a Turkish gold dealer and how a Wikileaks leaker managed to share new information from phones smuggled into his cell
  • Jeffrey Epstein was found alone and unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan early Saturday

  • He was pronounced dead at New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan hospital

  • The billionaire pedophile's death has raised serious questions about the jail given it is hardly the first scandal

  • A prison guard, Victor Casado, pleaded guilty last year to taking $25,000 in cash bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol and food to a wealthy Turkish gold trader

  • Reza Zarrab,
    ...who first appeared on our radar in late 2013 as an incidental item while then-Prime Minister Erdogan raged against the detention of dozens of his top people in a graft probe he blamed on the perfidy of his BFF Fethullah Gulen...
    who was the trader involved, was in prison over a money laundering scheme to Iran and says someone also tried to assassinate him

  • A former CIA employee, Joshua Adam Schulte,
    ...the former CIA programmer arrested for having child porn, subsequently discovered to have shared information on government hacking tools to Wikileaks...
    is also accused of leaking classified files from a cell phone while he was locked up in the federal prison

Jeffrey Epstein's apparent suicide has brought new scrutiny to the federal jail in New York where he was being held given the previous security lapses at the facility that houses some of the highest-security inmates in the country. Epstein's death is hardly the first scandal at the MCC facility in Manhattan.

Last year, a prison guard at the jail, Victor Casado, pleaded guilty to taking more than $25,000 in cash bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol and food to a wealthy Turkish gold trader between 2016 and 2017. Reza Zarrab, who was the Turkish gold trader involved with bribing the guard, was in prison over a money laundering scheme to Iran.

He has previously testified in court that someone tried to assassinate him at the prison when he implemented Turkey's President Recep Tayip Erdogan in the scheme that would launder billions of dollars from the U.S. to Iran.

A former CIA employee, Joshua Adam Schulte, accused of leaking classified files while in prison. Schulte last year with stealing classified defense information from the CIA in 2016. He is believed to be behind the 'Vault 7' and 'Vault 8' documents released by WikiLeaks.

The 12-story jail had been designed to house 449 inmates when it opened in 1975. Today it holds more than 760.

Ron Kuby, who once represented a blind Egyptian sheik, lockup houses some of 'the highest-security prisoners on earth.'

He said that while suicide attempts among inmates are commonplace, 'it's been a long time since they lost somebody.'
Related:
Jeffrey Epstein: 2019-08-12 Bill Clinton Wanted To Appoint A Lawmaker Caught In The Epstein Scandal To The Supreme Court
Jeffrey Epstein: 2019-08-12 Former MCC Inmate: ‘There's No Way That Man [Epstein] Could Have Killed Himself'
Jeffrey Epstein: 2019-08-12 FBI investigating Epstein death in Manhattan jail
Related:
Reza Zarrab: 2018-01-04 Turkish banker convicted in Iran sanctions-busting scheme
Reza Zarrab: 2017-12-04 CHP chair Kılıçdaroğlu gives President Erdoğan Dec 5 as ‘deadline’ on Zarrab
Reza Zarrab: 2017-12-03 A Plot of Gold for Erdogan

Related: NYP - Meet Jeffrey Epstein’s gang of accused slave ‘recruiters’
Link


Home Front: WoT
Turkish banker convicted in Iran sanctions-busting scheme
2018-01-04
[IsraelTimes] Mehmet Hakan Atilla found guilty of bank fraud, conspiracy, in case which implicated Erdogan and strained US ties with Ankara

A Ottoman Turkish banker was convicted in New York on Wednesday in connection with a massive scheme to help Iran evade US sanctions, in a case that strained ties between Ankara and Washington.

A jury found Mehmet Hakan Atilla, deputy chief executive of Ottoman Turkish lender Halkbank, guilty of five counts of bank fraud and conspiracy.

The federal trial hinged on the testimony of well-connected Ottoman Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab,
...who first appeared on our radar in late 2013 as an incidental item while then-Prime Minister Erdogan raged against the detention of dozens of his top people in a graft probe he blamed on the perfidy of his BFF Fethullah Gulen...
who became a government witness after admitting his involvement in the multi-billion-dollar gold-for-oil scheme to subvert US economic sanctions against Iran.

His testimony implicated former Ottoman Turkish ministers and even President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
 in the scheme, and identified 47-year-old Atilla as a key organizer.

Zarrab, a prominent gold trader, agreed to testify after striking a deal to plead guilty to violating US sanctions.

Before the trial, Erdogan reportedly pressed US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
 to quell the investigation and strongly criticized Washington, calling the case a "plot" aimed at hurting The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
Ouch. The auto-translator is clearly in a mood.
Acting US Attorney Joon Kim said the case was a warning to anyone who would violate US sanctions.

"Foreign banks and bankers have a choice: You can choose willfully to help Iran and other sanctioned nations evade US law, or you can choose to be part of the international banking community transacting in US dollars. But you can’t do both," Kim said in a statement.

"If you lie repeatedly to US Treasury officials and fabricate documents ‐ all as part of a secret scheme to smuggle billions of dollars in Iranian oil money past the US sanctions net ‐ as Atilla did, then you should be prepared for the consequences."

Senior Turkish official slams US conviction of banker

[Ynet] A senior Ottoman Turkish government official said on Wednesday that the conviction of Ottoman Turkish banker Hakan Atilla in the United States violated international law.

A US jury on Wednesday found Atilla, an executive at The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's majority state-owned Halkbank, guilty of helping Iran evade US sanctions.

The official told Rooters the outcome of the trial would not hurt the Ottoman Turkish economy, banking system or Halkbank.
Link


The Grand Turk
CHP chair Kılıçdaroğlu gives President Erdoğan Dec 5 as ‘deadline’ on Zarrab
2017-12-04
[Hurriyet Daily News] Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has said he would give President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
 until Dec. 5 to reveal who exposed state secrets to Ottoman Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, a key witness in the trial of a Ottoman Turkish bank executive in the United States over violations of Iran.
You and what army, Mr. Kilicdaroglu? Your job is to rubber stamp the sultan’s orders, not challenge him as if Turkey were still a democracy.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) previously gave the U.S. two diplomatic notes to return Zarrab to Turkey, on the grounds that he is "a clean guy," Kilicdaroglu said on Dec. 2 in an opening ceremony in the southern province of Mersin.

"[But] once Zarrab started to sing like a canary, then [the AKP said] he was a spy, a traitor. Up until yesterday, he was your guy and you were arm in arm. When he received the money, he was good, but now that he is talking, he is bad. I give Erdogan until Tuesday [Dec. 5] to explain who exposed the state’s secrets to Zarrab," the CHP leader said.

Kilicdaroglu’s comments came a day after Ottoman Turkish prosecutors ordered the seizure of Zarrab’s assets, citing a part of the Ottoman Turkish penal code that addresses the leaking of state secrets. Zarrab had previously claimed in a trial in a Manhattan court that he had paid millions of dollars in bribes to a former Ottoman Turkish economy minister to facilitate illegal gold transactions with sanctions-hit Iran.

"I live with the hope of 80 million people [in Turkey]. The 80 million want to live in this country in peace. We will fight for this together. We have written law and justice in the world of history. Everyone should know this very well. Law and justice is a right for all of us. We will fight until we achieve it," said Kilicdaroglu.

Kilicdaroglu also touched on the shift from the parliamentary system to the presidential system this year, which was realized through a referendum conducted on April 16, and said the parliamentary regime should be brought back.

"You are the ones who best know the danger that awaits Turkey. The first one is the one-man regime, replacing the democratic parliamentary system. You see what the one-man regime is. You see what Turkey has turned into. We need to remove Turkey from this dead end. We need to bring back the democratic regime. We need to bring back peace. This is why our women will knock on every door one by one on the path headed to 2019 [general elections]," he said.

Link


The Grand Turk
A Plot of Gold for Erdogan
2017-12-03
More on this story from yesterday.
[RUDAW.NET] This week Iranian-Ottoman Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab went on trial in the United States for a scheme to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions between 2010 and 2015. Along with Ottoman Turkish Halk Bank president Mehmet Hakan Atilla, Mr. Zarrab allegedly used Iranian funds and oil to buy gold in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, then sold the gold in Dubai and forwarded the returns back to Tehran. As part of the operation, Mr. Zarrab bribed top Ottoman Turkish officials, including Turkey’s finance minister and other members of the government’s cabinet.

In a plea bargain to reduce his sentence, Mr. Zarrab agreed to cooperate with American prosecutors, and his resulting testimony is producing interesting revelations. On Thursday, November 30, Mr. Zarrab testified that Ottoman Turkish President Erdogan (who was Prime Minister at the time) personally ordered the scheme to help Iran evade American sanctions and enrich the coffers of Turkey and its officials in the process.

According to the BBC, Mr. Zarrab "said that he was told in 2012 by the then economy minister that Mr Erdogan...had instructed Ottoman Turkish banks to participate in the multi-million dollar scheme" and that "...he paid Zafer Caglayan, then Turkey's economy minister, bribes amounting to more than 50m euros ($59m; £44m) to facilitate deals with Iran."

President Erdogan and other Ottoman Turkish government officials, including former finance minister Caglayan and former Halk Bank president Atilla (who is pleading "not guilty" in the trial) denied the allegations.
No, no! Certainly not!
 The Ottoman Turkish government and its controlled media even went further than denying the allegations, accusing the American judge in the case of having links with Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
 (the reclusive Pennsylvania-based Ottoman Turkish holy man that the Erdogan government insists was behind the July 2016 coup attempt).

Government controlled newspapers in Turkey either sidestepped the substance of the trial in New York, choosing instead to focus on things such as Mr. Zarrab’s fashion preferences for the court room ("casual chic" on Thursday, apparently), or they carried reports such as this one from Daily Sabah:

Officials in Turkey have argued that the case has been turned into a political move against Ankara. Turkey's claims were proved after the judge overseeing the Zarrab case was linked to the Gulenist Terror Group (FETÖ), led by runaway preacher Fetullah Gulen, who has lived in a self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. The Ottoman Turkish government has accused the group of exploiting the case by illegally obtaining and fabricating evidence, including wiretap records done by now-sacked FETÖ-linked coppers. Ankara says the so-called "evidence" was illegal for a court to use under U.S. law, which requires that any piece of evidence must be obtained through legal means.

Perhaps in another attempt to distract the Ottoman Turkish public from serious allegations of bribery amongst Turkey’s top government officials, prosecutors in Ankara this week also put out an arrest warrant for Graham Fuller, a former vice chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council, for "attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey" and "obtaining state information that must be kept secret for political and military espionage purposes," among other charges. Mr. Fuller now joins fellow American academic Henry Barkey, who had an arrest warrant put out for him on similar charges a few months ago.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Turkish gold trader fingers Erdogan in Iran sanctions-busting scheme
2017-12-02
[IsraelTimes] In US trial, Reza Zarrab testifies The Sick Man of Europe Turkey's leader instructed banks to take part in gold-for-oil ploy; government calls case a 'plot'

A Ottoman Turkish-Iranian gold trader testifying at trial in New York on Thursday implicated Turkey’s President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
 in a multi-billion-dollar gold-for-oil scheme allegedly designed to subvert US sanctions on Iran.

Reza Zarrab, 34, who was tossed in the calaboose
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
 in Miami in 2016 before agreeing to cooperate with US prosecutors, implied that Erdogan knew how he and a Ottoman Turkish banker, now on trial, circumvented US sanctions on Iran and laundered money from Iranian petroleum sales.

The case has angered Erdogan. His government has called the trial a "plot" and he has demanded the release of Zarrab and defendant, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy chief executive of Ottoman Turkish lender Halkbank.

"We did the right thing. We did not violate the embargo," Erdogan told politicians in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
 on Thursday, according to state broadcaster TRT Haber.

But in New York, Zarrab said he was told that in 2012, Erdogan, prime minister at the time, and then treasury minister Ali Babacan had given "instructions" for two other Ottoman Turkish public banks, Vakif and Ziraat, to take part in the scheme.

Turkey’s then economy minister, Zaref Caglayan, "told me that Mr. Prime Minister had given approval for Ziraat and Vakif to also do this work," he said through a Ottoman Turkish-language interpreter.

Zarrab also used his second day of testimony to declare that he extended the multi-billion-dollar scheme to India and tried to do so in China.

"But then all the banks we were working with, they immediately stopped it when they realized it had something to do with Iran," Zarrab testified.

On Wednesday, he said he paid tens of millions of dollars worth of bribes to Caglayan between 2012 and 2013 to facilitate illegal gold transactions with Iran.

Due to face trial himself, he instead pleaded guilty to seven counts and became prosecutors’ star witness. While others have been indicted, they remain on the lam and Atilla is alone in the dock.

’Under pressure’
While Erdogan is not charged with any crime, analysts had expected that corruption revelations could embarrass him and his inner circle. Ottoman Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Zarrab was making defamatory claims because he was "under pressure."

There are fears in Turkey that a guilty verdict could lead to possible sanctions on one or more Ottoman Turkish banks, spelling bad news for the country’s fragile economy.

Zarrab was a key figure in a 2013 Ottoman Turkish corruption scandal in which he allegedly bribed four ministers to facilitate sanctions-busting trade and other deals. He allegedly carried suitcases stuffed with cash to Dubai, where they were exchanged for foreign currencies used for international payments to circumvent the US sanctions. He was held for 70 days until prosecutors dropped all the charges.

Caglayan, who is also named in the US indictment, and the other three ministers resigned from government at the time.

Turkey has denounced both the New York trial and the 2013 scandal as conspiracies by US-based preacher Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
, the alleged criminal mastermind of a 2016 failed coup targeting Erdogan. Gulen denies the allegations.

Atilla is charged with violating sanctions against Iran, as well as of bribery and money laundering.

Halkbank has denied any suggestion that it violated US sanctions, saying it had "not been a party" to any "illegal" transaction.

Turkey seizes assets of Reza Zarrab, gold trader at center of US trial

[DW] Ottoman Turkish prosecutors on Friday ordered the seizure of assets belonging to Reza Zarrab, a Ottoman Turkish-Iranian billionaire who turned into a witness for the US government in a New York trial centered on an alleged oil-for-gold Iran sanctions busting scheme.

The order applies to Zarrab's assets and those of his family, including his Ottoman Turkish pop star wife Ebru Gundes, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

According to the Anadolu report, Zarrab is suspected of espionage against The Sick Man of Europe Turkey.

The Ottoman Turkish government has previously accused the Gulen movement, which it blames for last year's failed coup attempt, of illegal wiretapping or creating fake audio recordings.

It has also accused US prosecutors and judges of being tied to the Gulen movement.

US District Judge Richard M. Berman said audio recordings of the conversations between Erdogan and Babacan would be heard in court as evidence next week.
Link


The Grand Turk
Turkey says Trump told Erdogan won't give Syria Kurds more arms
2017-11-25
Possibly this is true. Possibly Turkey is trying to force President Trump’s hand, thinking that their heritage of Byzantine plotting gives them an innate advantage in negotiations. Possibly Turkey is wrong.
[AlAhram] President Donald Trump has informed Ankara that the US will no longer supply weapons to the Syrian Kurdish militia fighting Islamic State (IS) militants, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday.

Trump delivered the message during what the Turkish presidency called a "productive" phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday

"Mr Trump said he gave a clear order and that after this, weapons would not be supplied to the YPG, essentially he said this nonsense should have been ended earlier," Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a press conference in Ankara.

The YPG is the Peoples' Protection Units Kurdish militia in Syria, which the US has seen as the most effective fighting force on the ground against IS.

"Naturally, we welcomed these statements," said Cavusoglu, adding: "Of course we want to see this put into practice."

There was no immediate comment from the US side regarding the content of the telephone call between the two leaders.

Relations between the US and Turkey have been strained since the administration of former President Barack Obama over its support for the YPG and the failure to extradite Pennsylvania-based Fethullah Gulen blamed for ordering last year's coup bid.

Bilateral ties are at further risk of fraying over a scheduled trial in New York of Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab and Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank, both accused of defying US sanctions on Iran.

The trial is expected to start early next month but there are fears over possible fines against one or more Turkish banks in the event of a guilty verdict.
Link


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Ex-Trump aide Flynn probed over secret Turkey dealings: reports
2017-11-12
[DAWN] Investigators are probing whether former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn discussed expelling a Ottoman Turkish dissident back to his country in exchange for millions of dollars, United States (US) media reported Friday.

Special prosecutor Robert Mueller is examining a meeting Flynn had with senior Ottoman Turkish officials weeks after Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
 won the presidential race last year, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal reported.

The meeting allegedly discussed a secret payout of up to $15 million dollars if, once in office, Flynn would engineer the deportation to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
 of Fethullah Gulen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
, a political rival to Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
, as well as help free Erdogan-linked Iranian-Ottoman Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab from prison.

NBC and the WSJ both cited multiple people familiar with the probe by Mueller, who is leading the investigation into whether members of Trump's campaign colluded with Russian meddling in the election.

According to the sources, Mueller recently interviewed witnesses over the December 2016 meeting between the Ottoman Turkish officials and Flynn at the swanky 21 Club in New York City.

"Under the alleged proposal, Mr. Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr, were to be paid as much as $15m for delivering Fethullah Gulen to the Ottoman Turkish government, according to people with knowledge of discussions Mr. Flynn had with Ottoman Turkish representatives," the WSJ said.

Link


Home Front: WoT
Former Turkish minister indicted in US for violating embargo on Iran
2017-09-08
[Hurriyet Daily News] U.S. prosecutors have charged a former Turkish economy minister and a former general manager of a state bank with conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran, with a Turkish minister defending his predecessor.

The charges targeted former economy minister Zafer Çağlayan, former Halkbank general manager Süleyman Aslan and two others, according to the filing, dated on Sept. 6, from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York.

The U.S. indictment broadens a case targeting Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who is still in prison in the U.S.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he believed U.S. authorities had “ulterior motives” in prosecuting Zarrab.

Çağlayan, Aslan and the other two individuals are charged with “conspiring to use the U.S. financial system to conduct hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions on behalf of the Government of Iran and other Iranian entities, which were barred by United States sanctions.”
Link


Home Front: WoT
3 charged, 1 nabbed on Iran sanctions evasion charges
2016-03-22
[IsraelTimes] Suspects conspired to defraud banks, violate US sanctions in hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions

Three people have been charged with conspiring to evade US sanctions against Iran, and one has been tossed in the calaboose
You have the right to remain silent...
 after they processed hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions on behalf of Iranian businesses or Iran’s government, authorities announced Monday as they unsealed an indictment in New York.

Reza Zarrab, a 33-year-old resident of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, was arrested Saturday at a Miami airport while two others remain runaways on charges that they conspired to violate sanctions against Iran and Iranian entities. A message for comment left with Lee Stapleton, a lawyer for Zarrab, was not immediately returned after her client was detained following an appearance in Miami federal court.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said the men conspired to conduct hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions barred by US and international economic sanctions. They said the defendants were working on behalf of the Iranian government and Iranian businesses.

They said the two men and a woman were helped by co-conspirators as they used an international network of companies in Iran, Turkey and elsewhere to launder the proceeds of the illegal transactions and defraud several financial institutions, including US banks, by concealing the true nature of the financial moves.

Diego Rodriguez, head of the FBI’s New York office, said the crimes were carried out from 2010 to 2015. He said the charges should send a message to others who try to hide their true business partners.
Link


The Grand Turk
Graft probe prosecutors and judge to be put on trial
2015-03-04
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's highest judicial board has opened the way for the trial of two prosecutors and one judge responsible for the massive corruption probe of December 2013.

The 2nd Chamber of the Supreme Judges and Prosecutors Board (HSYK) gave permission for the trial of prosecutors Celal Kara and Muammer Akkas and judge Suleyman Karacöl.

HSYK 2nd Board Head Mehmet Yilmaz told Anadolu Agency that they will take the last defenses of the three individuals, who were all involved in the Dec. 17 and Dec. 25, 2013 graft probes, before making its decision on whether to give any disciplinary punishment.

Yilmaz said the board allowed the prosecution of Kara on the grounds that he had seized a wealth of legal entities without conducting sufficient research and investigation, and also for recording phone calls between former Interior Minister Muammer Guler and his son Baris Guler, as well as between businessman Reza Zarrab and his wife Ebru Gundes, without deleting them.

The probe against prosecutor Akkas has been allowed on allegations that he "violated the privacy of the prosecution and made decisions without sufficient examination."

Judge Karacöl can be tried as he decided on the seizure of suspects' wealth in the Dec. 25, 2013 probe, based on Article 128 of the Turkish Penal code. Judge Karacöl is temporarily suspended from his post until the trial against him is finalized.

Businessmen, babus bureaucrats and four cabinet members were involved in the probe as suspects. The four ministers, Egemen Bagis, Erdogan Bayraktar, Zafer Caglayan, and Muammer Guler, resigned from their posts a few months after the incident and were acquitted in a historic vote in the Turkish parliament over corruption claims that emerged as part of the Dec. 17 probe.

The board had previously suspended four prosecutors who were involved in the now-dropped graft investigations in December 2013 pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation.

Ruling that Zekeriya Öz, Celal Kara, Muammer Akkas and Mehmet Yuzgec remaining in office would "harm the clout and reputation of the judiciary," the board decided on Dec. 30, 2014, to suspend the four prosecutors.

In May 2014, the 3rd Chamber of the HSYK gave the green light for the prosecution of Öz, Kara, Akkas and Yuzgec.

Subsequently, the decision to open an investigation obtained the final approval of Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag. At the time, the third chamber also asked for the suspension of the four from their duties pending the outcome of the investigation.
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