Court conference in US case against Halkbank adjourned

By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, March 3 (Reuters) – A court conference has been adjourned to March 11 from March 3 in the U.S. government’s criminal case accusing Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy for allegedly helping Iran evade American economic sanctions, according to a filing in Manhattan federal court.

The adjournment was at the parties’ request, the filing said.

The filing did not specify a reason for the adjournment. It came five months after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider a federal appeals court decision that let the prosecution proceed.

The bank’s shares on the Istanbul stock exchange extended losses after the adjournment was announced. They closed down 8.59% at 45.34 lira.

Halkbank’s case has long been a thorn in U.S.-Turkey relations, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan calling it an “unlawful, ugly” step.

U.S. prosecutors originally charged Halkbank in 2019, during President Donald Trump’s first White House term.  The case is unrelated to current tensions in the Middle East.

Halkbank was accused of using money servicers and front companies in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in its sanctions-evasion scheme.

Prosecutors said the bank secretly transferred $20 billion of restricted funds, converted oil revenue into gold and cash to benefit Iranian interests and documented fake food shipments to justify transfers of oil proceeds.

Halkbank pleaded not guilty to bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges.

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily voided the prosecution, despite agreeing that Congress’ desire to shield foreign countries and their instrumentalities from civil liability did not cover criminal cases.

Instead, it ordered the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to more thoroughly review whether immunity under centuries-old common law shielded Halkbank.

The appeals court found no such shield in October 2024, prompting Halkbank’s second Supreme Court appeal. The Trump administration argued that the common law does not shield foreign state-owned companies from criminal prosecution.

($1 = 43.9747 liras)

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Canan Sevgili in Gdansk; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Noeleen Walder and Chizu Nomiyama)