US judge ponders US$50 million Manhattan bail for Turkish mogul

NEW YORK: Should a Turkish gold mogul, arrested en route to Disney World with his superstar singer wife and five-year- old daughter, be released on a US$ 50 million bond with armed security guards in a lavish Manhattan apartment?

That is the question a US federal judge is pondering with respect to 33-year- old Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab, charged with conspiring to violate international sanctions on Iran.

Arrested in Miami in March, Zarrab on Thursday stepped into the glare of a New York court to attend a more than two-hour hearing that could determine whether he can swap jail for a fancy New York apartment in the sky.

US prosecutors say that from 2010 to 2015 he conspired to thwart sanctions against Iran by concealing hundreds of millions of dollars in global transactions conducted on behalf of Iran and Iranian outfits.

The US government says the evidence is ‘overwhelming’ and opposes bail, saying that Zarrab poses an ‘extraordinary flight risk’ as a ‘lavishly wealthy’ man with untold fi nancial assets and contacts across the world.

Zarrab faces multiple conspiracy charges, of which the most serious — conspiracy to commit bank fraud — could see him jailed for 30 years if convicted.

He cut a forlorn figure in court, dressed in navy jail scrubs worn over an olive T-shirt and sporting a dark beard as he huddled with a Turkish interpreter and occasionally cast his eyes backwards to the public gallery. — AFP