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Halkbank case: Gold smuggler Zarab lives richly in US with remittances from Turkey

Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarab remains linked to his former criminal network, receiving multiple bank transfers from Turkey, according to an OCCR report released on Tuesday.

The infamous former treasurer of the Erdogan family is living a life of luxury under the approval of the government with a fake identity in Miami, Florida, where he invests in purebred horses and a ranch, the OCCR reported, confirming and older publications that revealed his identity.

Zarab uses fake IDs while living in a $ 3.6 million apartment in a luxury complex off the coast of Biscayne Bay, according to the OCCR.

The Turkish-Iranian businessman is a key witness in the case against Halkbank, where the Turkish bank is accused of violating US sanctions on Iran as part of a gold exchange plan for oil, while it is also accused of helping Iran secretly transfer $ 20 billion in limited funds. dollars. Zarab was convicted of leading a plot involving Turkish state-owned Halkbank and involving several Turkish ministers, but and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his trial in 2017, causing an “earthquake” and brought to a point Erdogan and Tsavousoglou attacking everything and demanding his return.

Turkey has already seized some of Zarab’s assets and is expected to lose more in the United States if convicted after the Halkbank trial. However, when this will happen remains unclear.

“This was the largest sanctions evasion plan in U.S. history, and the possibility that the U.S. financial system could be used to facilitate inappropriate transactions for Reza Zarab and other conspirators involved in the plot deserves the immediate attention of U.S. officials,” he told the OCCR. the chairman of the Economic Committee Ron Weiden.

Meanwhile, Zarab can afford a rich lifestyle financed by bank transfers from Turkey, the OCCR said.

In addition, Zarab is said to have constant contact with his former colleagues in money laundering.

“If it was known that Zarab had acted dishonestly or fraudulently, or had been linked to criminals, or even worse, had committed a crime, he would have seriously undermined his usefulness as an accomplice. Depending on how important he is to the case. [Halkbank]”could seriously damage this case,” said Peter Sprung, a retired U.S. attorney general.

Zarab was arrested in Miami in March 2016 as he arrived with his family, and later changed from a defendant to a camp, testified, pleaded guilty to conspiracy theories, and eventually managed to imprison his co-accused, former Halk governor Meit Hakan Attila, who after his release, “rewarded” by Erdogan with the management of the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

The indictment against Halkbank was released in 2019 and accused the bank of illegally transferring about $ 20 billion in Iranian oil and gas revenues through the bank. He also said the state-owned bank sometimes disguised money movements behind a shop window that included food and medicine purchases to be eligible for a “humanitarian exemption” from sanctions.

The numerous proposals of the bank for rejection of the case failed the previous two years.

Petros Kranias

Read also:

* Court ruling: Turkish Halkbank to be prosecuted for Reza Zarab’s gold smuggling

* Before the diplomatic crisis Germany and Turkey – The “combines” of Ziraat Bank and the German reaction

* Giuliani took $ 5 million to influence individuals in the Trump administration in favor of Turkey

* New page in the case of Turkish Halkbank: Sanctions, gold smuggling and R. Zarab

* Trump awarded thanks to Michael Flynn: Russia’s involvement in the US elections and … Gulen

* FinCEN revelations: Erdogan’s son-in-law at the center of Zarab’s gold smuggling case

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Source From: Capital

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