Posted on 05/16/2018 6:38:43 AM PDT by Texas Fossil
MANHATTAN (CN) – As Hakan Atilla learns what sentence he must serve for helping Iran launder billions of dollars, Istanbul’s fragile markets will watch closely Wednesday for cues about the fate of the Turkish banker’s former employer.
Atilla had served as one of 13 managers at Halkbank, a Turkish government-run institution implicated in massive violations of U.S. sanctions, before his arrest last year at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.
With his conviction in January on sanctions violations, Turkey experts from here to Istanbul expect another shoe to drop soon for Halkbank.
“I think the markets are prepared for a fine of some sort from U.S. Treasury, but how much?” Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said in phone interview. “That’s the question.”
The question could carry profound implications for the future of Turkey’s economy, which has been roiled by a recent coup attempt against the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his fevered hunt for supposed enemies under the country’s State of Emergency.
At Atilla’s trial, U.S. prosecutors could only estimate the scale of the Halkbank money-laundering scheme. In one sentencing brief.. they noted testimony from gold trader Reza Zarrab, who had been a key witness against Atilla, that he funneled “a few billion” euros in Iranian oil proceeds through the bank.
“The trial record also showed that the scheme involved both billions of dollars’ worth of gold transactions … and billions of dollars’ worth of fraudulent food transactions,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard wrote..
How U.S. regulators tabulate the damage, Aydintasbas said, could send Turkey’s markets into turmoil.
“So, if we’re talking about $1 or $2 billion, $3 billion, I think the markets have prepared for something like that,” she said. “But if we’re talking about $8, $9, $10 [billion], that would send shockwaves through the Turkish economy”
(Excerpt) Read more at courthousenews.com ...
$1 to 4.42 Lyra
And note in past 2 months the value of Iranian currency has dropped by 50%
And both are on war footing with Israel and possibly the US.
Turkey ordered the Israeli Ambassador out of Turkey and the US Ambassador was also told to leave Turkey.
I saw video's of the Israeli Ambassador at airport to leave the country this morning.
(A US Congressman once said: A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you are talking about "real money".)
(A US Congressman once said: A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you are talking about “real money”.)
former U.S. Senator Sam Ervin N.C. (D) ... way back in the day when there were actual conservative Dems ...
Thank you. I did not try to refresh my memory by searching for who stated it.
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