MANHATTAN (CN) — Previewing their evidence against a Turkish gold trader accused of laundering money for Iran, prosecutors told a federal judge Monday that Reza Zarrab spoke about the scheme directly with Iran’s former hardline president.
“We expect the evidence will show that Mr. Zarrab offered these services to Iran in a letter personally addressed to then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and that Mr. Zarrab funneled tens of millions of dollars to high-level government and bank officials to facilitate and protect this scheme,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard told the court.
This morning’s hearing before U.S. District Judge Richard Berman comes on the heels of court-ordered affidavits from two of the high-profile Republican attorneys whom Zarrab has retained for his defense.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, described his legal work for Zarrab as mostly diplomatic.
“Those services have focused principally although not exclusively on an effort to determine whether this case can be resolved as part of some agreement between the United States and Turkey that will promote the national security interests of the United States and redound to the benefit of Mr. Zarrab,” Giuliani’s April 14 declaration says.
The New York Times has since reported that the United States might seek Turkey’s help in its military strategy fighting the Islamic State group in Syria.
Mike Mukasey, a former U.S. attorney general, uses identical language to Giuliani in his affidavit, describing plans to hold “further meetings or conversations” with senior U.S. and Turkish officials.
Both Giuliani and Mukasey insist they informed prosecutors their efforts “on a confidential basis.”
“Indeed, one of those officials stated that out of necessity he has grown used to functioning in an atmosphere that includes inaccurate and ill-intentioned leaks,” Giuliani wrote. “That receptiveness is hardly surprising when one considers that none of the transactions in which Mr. Zarrab is alleged to have participated involved weapons or nuclear technology, or any other contraband, but rather involved consumer goods, and that Turkey is situated in a part of the world strategically critical to the United States.”
Lockard told the court that the affidavits seek to “muddy the waters.”
“Confidentiality was not requested or promised, nor could it have been, in light of the issues that are raised by the potential conflict-of-interest issue,” the prosecutor said.
Lockard emphasized that Zarrab was no low-hanging fruit for these international negotiations.
“What is charged in this case is a serious national security offense,” he said, describing Zarrab as the leader of a “multiyear conspiracy” to evade sanctions.