Economics
Turkish-Iranian Gold Dealer Must Face Laundering, Sanctions Case
- Zarrab argued U.S. prosecutors overreached in bringing charges
- Gold trader is accused of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran
This article is for subscribers only.
A Turkish-Iranian gold trader must stand trial for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars and violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, a New York judge said in rejecting a bid to dismiss the case as “unprecedented.”
Reza Zarrab, who allegedly owns a multi-billion dollar network of companies in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, argued that U.S. prosecutors had "manufactured" the case as part of a "dangerous extension" of American law. He said he’s the first foreign national accused of violating U.S. banking sanctions against Iran in transactions that were otherwise lawful for him as a Turkish citizen, a claim prosecutors didn’t deny.