In the US criminal investigation accusing Halkbank of helping to evade sanctions against Iran, it has been reported that the sentence for key cooperating witness Reza Zarrab will be announced in July. Court records set the date as July 14 for Zarrab's sentencing.
Zarrab admitted his guilt on October 26, 2017, acknowledging his participation in a conspiracy to evade sanctions. The Turkish-Iranian gold trader testified against former Halkbank official Mehmet Hakan Atilla during the 2017 trial in New York.
Atilla was convicted in that trial for assisting Iran in circumventing US sanctions. The delayed sentencing of Zarrab is seen as part of the usual process applied to cooperating witnesses in the US.
Halkbank, meanwhile, was separately charged in 2019 by the US for allegedly aiding Iran in evading sanctions, a claim the bank denied. Prosecutors announced in March that they had reached a settlement with the bank and requested dismissal of the case in return.
Conditions of the settlement included Halkbank ceasing transactions that would benefit Iran. This development caused a sharp rise in the bank's shares on the Istanbul stock exchange.
Judge Richard Berman suspended the Halkbank case for 90 days to consider the prosecutors' request to dismiss it. The court is expected to address this request at the hearing scheduled for June 17.