Jury selection in Iran sanctions case postponed for 1 week
NEW YORK — A judge postponed jury selection in the trial surrounding a conspiracy to help Iran evade economic sanctions after the star defendant, an international gold trader who had been trying to broker a diplomatic solution to the case, was a no-show Monday.
The case against Reza Zarrab, a citizen of Turkey and Iran, has strained relations between the U.S. and Turkey. On Monday, the government there depicted the trial as a conspiracy, with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag describing Zarrab as a “hostage” being forced to testify against Turkey.
But Zarrab wasn’t in court early Monday and had not participated in pretrial activities for weeks. Zarrab’s criminal lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment this month on anything related to his client.
Lawyers for deputy CEO of Halkbank, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, were in Manhattan federal court Monday for the start of jury selection. But U.S. District Judge Richard Berman held a locked-door session with lawyers for more than an hour before calling reporters inside to say the case was postponed for a week. He didn’t say why, and lawyers didn’t explain the delay outside court.