Turkey Seizes Assets of Reza Zarrab, Witness in Sanctions-Evasion Case<br />1, 2017<br />Turkish prosecutors on Friday ordered the seizure of assets belonging to an Iranian-Turk gold trader who has been a key witness in the<br />Manhattan trial of a Turkish bank executive accused of violating United States sanctions on Iran, Turkish state media reported.<br />It came a day after the witness, Reza Zarrab, testified in Federal District Court<br />that he was told in 2012 by a Turkish official that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister, ordered two Turkish banks to participate in a billion-dollar sanctions-busting scheme.<br />Turkish state and pro-government media outlets have not reported on key developments in the trial, including Mr. Zarrab’s testimony this week implicating Mr. Erdogan<br />and his account of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to Zafer Caglayan when he was the country’s economy minister, as part of the scheme.<br />The Turkish state news agency, however, was the first to report on Friday’s court order to confiscate all of the assets of Mr. Zarrab<br />and his family, including his wife, Ebru Gundes, a famous Turkish pop singer.<br />Asked about the Turkish order to seize Mr. Zarrab’s assets, his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said, "It would be<br />inappropriate to comment until after the trial of Mr. Atilla is completed." Prosecutors had no comment.
