Supreme Court rules Turkey’s Halkbank not immune from trial in US for violating Iran sanctions

The US Supreme Court has struck down claims by Turkey’s Halkbank that it is immune from prosecution in the United States for violating Iran sanctions on grounds it is owned by the Turkish government and that US federal courts do not have jurisdiction over it.

‘We disagree with Halkbank on both points,’ Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, 19 April, announcing the court’s 7-2 decision.

He also said that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act which Halkbank had invoked in its defence, saying it is state-owned and therefore an ‘instrumentality of a foreign state’ and immune from prosecution in America, ‘does not provide immunity from criminal prosecution.’

But the court did give Halkbank another chance to escape charges by ordering a lower court to review its judgment.

Kavanaugh wrote that the lower court ‘did not fully consider the various arguments regarding common-law immunity that the parties press in this Court.’

Halkbank was indicted in October 2021 for fraud, money laundering and other sanctions-related charges for its participation in a ‘multibillion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran.’ It is accused of having used front companies in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to conceal Iranian oil revenues, which were converted to gold for Iran. Prosecutors say the transactions totalled some $20 billion.