Zarrab still in prison, his lawyer says

RAZİ CANİKLİGİL – New York

Turkish-Iranian jailed businessman Reza Zarrab, currently held in New York, was not freed from prison ahead of a trial that will take place on Nov. 27, Zarrab’s lawyer Şeyda Yıldırım told daily Hürriyet on Nov. 11.

“It is not true that he was released. This is yet another technical error,” Yıldırım said.

Upon a statement saying Zarrab was released from prison on Nov. 8 per stated on the Federal Jailhouse Bureau website, a dilemma as to whether the case had taken a breaking point was widely discussed on social media.

Some even made claims, saying Zarrab was brought back to Turkey following the meeting held between Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and United States Vice President Mike Pence in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 9

However, echoing Yıldırım’s argument, New York District Federal Prosecutor Spokesman also said Zarrab was still held in prison.

A similar technical error, as claimed, had spread on Sept. 9, and the Chief Prosecutor’s Office had said Zarrab was still in prison.

Zarrab, a gold trader in Turkey with dual Turkish-Iranian citizenship, was arrested in March when he arrived in Florida for a family vacation. Prosecutors charged him with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and help Iranian entities conduct hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of financial transactions through U.S. banks.