HALKBANK FILES ITS BRIEF WITH THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

Turkish government-owned and controlled HALKBANK has filed its Brief for Petitioner with the United States Supreme  Court, which agreed to hear the issue of whether the US Government can use the Commercial Activities Exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FISA), to bring a money laundering case against the bank, which was involved in evading sanctions against Iran. The case is part of the SDNY action against REZA ZARRAB and others,

The points raised by the bank's counsel in the Brief:

(1) The FSIA confers "absolute criminal immunity."

(2) Congressional Intent bars criminal jurisdiction over foreign sovereigns.

(3) The facts do not support the Commercial Activities Exception to FISA.

(4) Even if the Exception is applicable, the case does not satisfy that Exception.

Readers who have been following the case through the Federal Court system know that both the District Court and the Second Circuit found that there was sufficient commercial activity in the US, on the part of the bank, to apply the Exception. They case also had political aspects; two of Donald Trump's prominent lawyers, the former Attorney General (Mukasey) and the former head of SDNY (Giuliani), represented the bank and sought to influence the prosecution by DOJ, With Trump's support. Whether they acted in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) remains an open question.