DISTRICT JUDGE DENIES HALKBANK'S MOTION FOR RECUSAL OF TRIAL JUDGE

US District Judge Richard Berman (SDNY) has denied defendant HALKBANK's Motion for Recusal, holding that it is barred on the grounds of waiver and estoppel and that it has no substantive merit. The Court, you may recall, denied REZA ZARRAB's similar motion in a related case.

The 31-page Opinion and Order discussed the legal standards to establish a basis for recusal, and covered these points:

(A) Halkbank's experts have overstepped and their Declarations are excluded.
(B) the Twelve Comments challenged by Halkbank - individually or collectively - do not begin to overcome the Presumption of Impartiality and cannot support Recusal.

The Court noted that most of the 1000 page plus filing consisted of material in the Turkish language,but without any translation, and that this section was excluded.