WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday rejected a Turkish financial institution’s important arguments for dismissing a lawsuit accusing it of serving to Iran evade U.S. sanctions, however the court docket despatched the case again for added evaluation.
Halkbank, a financial institution owned by Turkey, had argued {that a} federal regulation, the Overseas Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, gave international states absolute immunity from legal prosecution in U.S. courts. It additionally stated federal courts don’t have jurisdiction to supervise the case.
“We disagree with Halkbank on each factors,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for himself and 6 of his eight colleagues.
Nonetheless, Kavanaugh stated the case ought to return to a decrease court docket for additional evaluation. He stated the decrease court docket “didn’t totally take into account the varied arguments concerning common-law immunity that the events press on this Courtroom.”
The federal authorities says the financial institution “participated within the largest-known conspiracy to evade the USA’ financial sanctions on Iran,” laundering billions of {dollars} price of Iranian oil and pure fuel proceeds. The federal government says that working with an Iranian-Turkish businessman, the financial institution created methods for Iran to entry the funds — together with shipments of gold and pretend meals shipments. The federal government says that the schemes “freed up roughly $20 billion of restricted Iranian funds.”
The businessman, Reza Zarrab, has pleaded responsible.
The case was initiated beneath the Trump administration however was continued by the Biden administration.
The case is Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States, 21-1450.