Deutsche Bank, Bank of America ‘swindled’ by Zarrab

WASHINGTON

Deutsche Bank and Bank of America were swindled by Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, the office of Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara, who is the lead prosecutor against the controversial figure, has alleged.

Bharara’s office stated that Zarrab misinformed two US-based banks, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, over banks which he used as mediators, while he was also allegedly conducting financial transactions through U.S. banks. It also claimed that he damaged the U.S. financial system.

Some of Zarrab’s lawyers were also reportedly represented at these U.S.-based banks, according to Bharara’s office, which added that there was a clash of interests. 

Bharara has also asked that these lawyers be dismissed from the case.

Zarrab allegedly took a 5 Turkish Lira percentage for every 100 liras which he traded with Iranian companies, according to news reports.

“While Babek Zanjani, who was sentenced to death in Iran, was working for the state, Zarrab was running the money through Iran-based private corporations. They were working separately, even though they intersected at times, as in the incident about the ‘Ghana gold’ which arrived to Istanbul in 2013,” daily Hürriyet correspondent Tolga Tanış stated.

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 American banks.