CONVICTED TURKISH BANKER IN IRAN OIL-FOR-GOLD CASE FILES HIS APPELLATE BRIEF

Mehmet Atilla

 Attorneys for Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the Halkbank Deputy General Manager who was convicted the Reza Zarrab oil sanctions evasion case in US District Court in New York, have filed their Brief of Appellant in the Second Circuit. His counsel has asserted that the trial court committed a number of reversible errors.

The Points on Appeal, in summary form:

(1) The Jury Instruction that stated the jury could convict Atilla of Conspiring to violate the IEPPA if it found that he conspired to evade or avoid the imposition of secoRdary sanctions.
(2) The IEEPA does not criminalize conspiracies to evade or avoid secondary sanctions.
(3) The appellant is entitled to a new trial on the jury instructions about the IEEPA.
(4) The Government presented no evidence the appellant would involve US banks.
(5) It was error for the Court to refuse to admit Zarrab's statements to Atilla, and his jailhouse conversations, which proved bias.

Atilla's Federal Prison Presumptive Release Date is July 25, 2019, and the appeal will probably still be pending on that date. If his conviction is reversed, he most likely will have already served his entire sentence.
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* IEEPA:    International Emergency Economic Powers Act authorizes the President of the United States to regulate commerce, after declaring a national emergency, in response to any unusual or extraordinary threat to the US from a foreign source.