By Bosphorus News Türkiye Desk
A U.S. federal judge sentenced Reza Zarrab to time served on Tuesday, ending the Turkish-Iranian gold trader's decade-long criminal case without imposing further imprisonment.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman issued the sentence in Manhattan after prosecutors asked the court to consider Zarrab's extensive cooperation in the investigation of Türkiye's state-owned Halkbank. Zarrab spent approximately 22 months in custody following his arrest in Miami in 2016 and has remained free on bail since 2018.
Zarrab pleaded guilty in October 2017 to conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering charges connected to a scheme that moved restricted Iranian oil revenue through gold, cash and international financial transactions.
He later became the prosecution's principal witness against former Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who was convicted in 2018 of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions. Berman said Zarrab's cooperation formed the foundation of the government's case against Atilla.
Prosecutors described Zarrab's assistance as truthful, complete and reliable. His testimony and evidence also contributed to the 2019 indictment of Halkbank, which U.S. authorities accused of participating in a multibillion-dollar sanctions-evasion scheme.
Halkbank pleaded not guilty and challenged the prosecution for years, arguing that it was protected from criminal proceedings as an institution owned by the Turkish state.
The United States formally ended the case against Halkbank on June 17 after the bank entered a compliance agreement with the Justice Department. The arrangement required outside supervision of the bank's sanctions and anti-money-laundering controls but imposed no financial penalty and required no admission of wrongdoing.
Zarrab's sentencing closes the cooperating witness's criminal case less than a month after the Halkbank indictment was dismissed.
The court imposed no additional fine, restitution or forfeiture. Zarrab had previously surrendered a boat valued at approximately $289,000 and more than $88,000 in cash to the U.S. government.
His lawyers said Turkish authorities had seized assets worth about $172 million after he began cooperating with American prosecutors and argued that he was unemployed and had a negative net worth. Those claims formed part of the defence submission considered at sentencing.
Zarrab testified in 2017 that he had paid millions of dollars in bribes to Turkish officials to facilitate transactions benefiting Iran. He also made allegations about approval for Turkish banks to participate in the gold-trading system.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected the accusations and described the U.S. proceedings as an attempt to place political and economic pressure on Türkiye.
The sentence does not erase Zarrab's guilty plea or Atilla's conviction. It concludes the remaining personal prosecution of the witness whose cooperation drove the American case, after the related proceedings against Halkbank were resolved without a trial.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, U.S. Department of Justice, Bosphorus News review and reporting.