Prominent NY lawyer Brafman to defend Zarrab

Razi Cankligil – NEW YORK

Prominent New York-based lawyer Benjamin Brafman, who is widely known for defending former International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Dominique Strauss-Kahn against sexual assault charges, has signed up to defend Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab, who was arrested in Miami over Iran sanction-related fraud charges. 

Brafman was confirmed to have signed up for the case, the trial of which was scheduled to be seen in New York in September.

As the four-leg journey to transfer Zarrab from Miami to New York began, Brafman submitted a petition to a Southern District of New York court to be the representative of the suspect.  

The owner of Brafman & Associates Law Firm, Brafman is a well-known lawyer in the U.S. for representing notable names like former IMF head Strauss-Kahn, Michael Jackson, American hip-hop artist Sean Combs and American football player Plaxico Burress.

While Brafman has given his petition to represent Zarrab during his trial due to begin in September at the earliest, Zarrab’s transfer from Miami to New York, where he will be tried, began in Tallahassee, Florida.
 
James Margolin, the chief public information officer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, said on April 13 that Zarrab would serve time in four different prisons during his transfer from Miami to New York and that the transfer would be carried out via bus. 

“Because there will be prisoners who will be transferred to different prisons in other states, Zarrab will serve time in different prisons for at least four nights during his transfer,” Margolin told. 

Stating that Zarrab’s transfer to New York could take two more weeks, Margolin added that the U.S. Federal Security unit would carry out the transfer.

Zarrab was arrested in the U.S. last month on charges that he conspired to conduct hundreds of millions of dollars in financial transactions for the Iranian government or other entities to evade U.S. sanctions. He is widely known in Turkey, as his name was embroiled in the Dec. 17-21, 2013, graft operations that involved four former Justice and Development Party (AKP) ministers and other state officials.

The cases of Zarrab and the ministers were dropped in Turkey.