A Turkish banker convicted as part of a conspiracy to violate U. S. sanctions on Iran was sentenced to 32 months in prison Wednesday.
May 16 (UPI) — A Turkish banker convicted as part of a conspiracy to violate United States sanctions on Iran was sentenced to 32 months in prison Wednesday.
Manhattan U. S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman issued a statement after the sentencing saying Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who worked as the deputy manager for Turkish state-owned bank Halkbank, helped Iran’s government access billions of dollars of assets that had been frozen by U. S. sanctions.
« Mehmet Hakan Atilla helped execute an audacious scheme to circumvent our nation’s Iran sanctions regime by engaging in billions of dollars’ worth of deceptive transactions, » Berman said.
A New York jury convicted Atilla, 47, on five counts of conspiracy and bank fraud in January.
He was one of nine people indicted in the case along with Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who was initially the lead defendant before reaching a deal with U. S. authorities to become a star witness against Atilla.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the case and once again defended Atilla’s innocence in an interview on Bloomberg TV before the sentencing.
« If Hakan Atilla is going to be declared a criminal, that would be almost equivalent to declaring the Turkish republic a criminal, » Erdogan said.
Prosecutors argued Atilla should be sentenced to about 20 years in prison, saying his crimes impacted national security.
« Atilla’s offenses simultaneously opened a multibillion-dollar channel of illicit funding for the government of Iran and relieved crucial financial pressure on Iran during negotiations to limit its nuclear program, » a sentencing memo stated.
Seeking a lighter sentence, Atilla’s lawyers argued he played a minor role in the scheme compared to the other defendants.
« Mr. Atilla was, at most, a cog in the wheel of the Zarrab scheme, » they said.
Judge Richard M. Berman agreed Atilla was a relatively minor contributor to the conspiracy, describing him as a « a reluctant participant, » who was merely « following orders. »
