Turk guilty in oil-for-gold Iran scheme

A TURKISH banker was found guilty Wednesday of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, concluding a trial that rocked the highest levels of Turkey’s government.

Halk Bank executive Mehmet Atilla, 47, was convicted of five counts, including conspiracy. The most serious charge carries a 30-year sentence. He was acquitted of a money laundering charge and will be sentenced in April.

Atilla was accused of orchestrating a complex Iranian oil-for-gold scheme. The transactions passed through U.S. financial institutions, violating sanctions against Iran.

The government’s star witness, the flamboyant Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, testified against Atilla.

Zarrab admitted to paying over $50 million in bribes to a senior Turkish official and implicated the country’s president, Recep Erdogan, in the scheme. Erdogan has called the case “a plot against Turkey.” Zarrab, who pleaded guilty before trial as part of a cooperation agreement, has been rumored to have knowledge of misdeeds by President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.