Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab’s lawyers tried to broker a prisoner exchange with his home country after he was arrested for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, he testified Wednesday.
Zarrab, 34, took the witness stand to testify against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who is on trial for the sanctions violation scheme.
Zarrab, who also holds Iranian and Macedonian citizenship, already copped to fraud and money laundering charges, according to an Oct. 26 court filing.
He also pleaded guilty to bribing a corrections officer for access to booze and a cell phone.
Prosecutors have said Zarrab and Atilla, 47, plotted to divert hundreds of millions of dollars to Iran’s state bank through through Turkey’s Halkbank. At the time, Atilla was a top exec at Halkbank.
Word that Zarrab might cop a plea deal intensified this past summer after Michael Flynn — the Trump administration’s former national security adviser — faced scrutiny for secretly lobbying for Turkey.
The Turkish government reportedly pushed Flynn to help get Zarrab’s case tossed. Reports have also suggested that Zarrab might be working with special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into the Trump Administration.
He had hired former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former mayor Rudy Giuliani to try to lock in a diplomatic solution to his legal woes.
Prosecutors asked Zarrab, collared in March 2016 after coming to the U.S. for a family visit to Disney, whether he had hired lawyers to obtain a prisoner exchange with Turkey.
“Within the legal limits, yes,” said Zarrab, who spoke through a Turkish interpreter.
They then asked whether those lawyers explored setting up an exchange deal.
Zarrab replied, “yes, sir.” When asked if their efforts were successful, Zarrab said “no.”
The lawyers with whom Zarrab entrusted to broker this prisoner exchange were not identified in court.
They then asked Zarrab why he decided to cooperate.
“Cooperation was the fastest way to accept responsibility and to get out of jail at once,” Zarrab said.
Zarrab said he’s required to tell the truth under the plea bargain.
While nobody promised Zarrab what his sentence would be, prosecutors agreed to provide him with a letter detailing his assistance to federal prosecutors, he said.
Zarrab, who had been locked up in Brooklyn federal jail, said he has been in FBI custody for “a couple of weeks” and is under constant monitoring. He nonetheless sported a two-piece khaki outfit similar to a jail uniform.