A US jury has found a Turkish banker guilty of helping Iran evade US sanctions, after a nearly four-week trial that has strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Turkey.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive at Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank, was convicted on five of six counts he faced, including bank fraud and conspiracy, in Manhattan federal court.

Atilla was also found not guilty on a money-laundering charge. Jurors issued their verdict on the fourth day of deliberations.

Prosecutors had accused Atilla of conspiring with a gold trader, Reza Zarrab, and others to help Iran escape sanctions using fraudulent gold and food transactions. Zarrab pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecutors.

In several days on the witness stand, Zarrab described a sprawling scheme that he said included bribes to Turkish government officials and was carried out with the blessing of the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Halkbank had no immediate comment. Attempts to reach Erdoğan’s spokesman for comment on the allegations at the trial have been unsuccessful. Erdoğan has publicly dismissed the case as a politically motivated attack on his government.

In brief public remarks after the verdict was announced, Erdoğan made no comment on the trial but a senior Turkish government official rejected the verdict.

US prosecutors have criminally charged nine people, though only Zarrab, 34, and Atilla, 47, have been arrested by US authorities. Zarrab pleaded guilty and testified against Atilla.

“Foreign banks and bankers have a choice: you can choose willfully to help Iran and other sanctioned nations evade US law, or you can choose to be part of the international banking community transacting in US dollars,” Joon Kim, the acting US attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement after the verdict was read. “But you can’t do both.”

The US district judge Richard Berman scheduled Atilla to be sentenced on 11 April.

Victor Rocco, one of Atilla’s lawyers, told reporters that the banker would ask Berman to overturn the verdict and would appeal if necessary.

“We believe he’s innocent,” Rocco said. “We intend, and he intends, most importantly, to continue to fight and clear his name.”





















