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U.S. Court Convicts Turkish Banker in Multibillion Dollar Scheme to Help Iran Evade Sanctions
(Washington Post) Devlin Barrett - A New York jury on Wednesday convicted Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla, 47, a senior official at Halkbank, of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions. Reza Zarrab, 34, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader who pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme, told the jury that he paid more than $60 million in bribes to keep the scheme going, paying Turkey's then-economy minister Mehmet Zafer Caglayan to help him hide the money transfers by making them look like gold purchases. Zarrab said he helped move billions of euros to accounts controlled by Iran and that he was told Turkish President Erdogan knew about the plot.