A Turkish businessman accused of money laundering was extradited from Austria to the US on Friday, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice.
Sezgin Baran Korkmaz was escorted by members of US law enforcement agencies to Utah, where he has been charged with laundering more than $133 million through his accounts in Turkey and Luxembourg.
Mr. Korkmaz was arrested in Austria in June 2021 at the request of the United States. He has since been fighting a legal battle not to be extradited to the US. He had told a Turkish journalist from prison that he preferred to stand trial in his home country, where he is also wanted for money laundering and fraud.
According to the indictment drawn up against him, Mr. Korkmaz and his accomplices were involved in a ring that committed fraud by submitting false applications to the US Department of the Treasury for the granting of tax breaks amounting to one billion dollars for the use of renewable energy sources, specifically the production and sale of biodiesel by Washakie Renewable Energy LLC, based in Utah;
Sezgin Baran Korkmaz and the other alleged conspirators, according to the US Department of Justice, used their profits from the fraud to buy luxury real estate, companies such as Biofarma, the Turkish airline Borajet, hotels in Turkey and Switzerland, a yacht named Queen Anne, a villa and an apartment on the Bosphorus.
According to the US Department of Justice, Mr. Korkmaz faces up to 20 years in prison for each felony count (counseling and conspiracy to launder proceeds of crime, fraud, obstructing an investigation).
Mr Korkmaz’s name appears on a list of figures Ankara mobilized to secure favors from Donald Trump after his election to the US presidency in 2016, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of researchers journalists.
According to the OCCRP, Mr. Korkmaz had facilitated the travel to Turkey in 2018 of individuals connected to Mr. Trump who were seeking the release of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was then being held in Turkish prisons.
In coordination with Lebanese authorities, US prosecutors seized the Queen Anne yacht in July 2021 and sold it this year for $10.11 million, according to a US judge’s order issued in October 2021.
Mr. Korkmaz still faces prosecution for money laundering in his home country. Turkish authorities had also initiated extradition proceedings from Austrian authorities and in August 2021, an Austrian court had decided to extradite him to Turkey.
Turkish prosecutors in December ordered the detention of 10 management executives of his companies, as the Turkish Finance Ministry’s Economic Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) concluded that the companies were used to launder the proceeds of criminal activity, the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
Source: RES-MPE
Source: Capital
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