Halkbank was the Turkish national bank, that emerged from the case against Reza Zarrab, who was charged in 2016 by Southern District prosecutors, under Preet Bahara, he eventually cooperated, and they tried some official from the bank, who was convicted. They then moved on to indict the bank itself, as a corporate entity, similar to who PG&E was charged by the AG in California for deaths during a fire. That case stalled until 2019, when it was unsealed in last October, by Geoff Berman, who succeeded Preet Bahara.
The case stalled because Giuliani, among others, including the president were trying to use influence to resolve the case behind the scenes, because it was embarrassing for Turkey. Giuliani also represented Zarrab, initially, in 2016.
U.S. Indicts Turkish Bank on Charges of Evading Iran Sanctions
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey had repeatedly raised the Halkbank case with Mr. Trump over the past year, urging the United States not to take further action, saying that to do so would unfairly expose Turkey to severe financial risks. One of the bank’s top executives was convicted on related charges last year, and the Justice Department has been reviewing since then whether to pursue the case further as Turkish officials and lawyers pressed the government not to indict the bank.
Lawyers and lobbyists representing the bank, including Brian D. Ballard, a friend of Mr. Trump’s and the vice chairman of his inauguration, have been trying for more than a year to persuade the Trump administration not to file charges against the bank, or at least to understand that doing so could threaten the economy of a NATO ally.
Turkish officials had directly made other appeals to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. The lobbying campaign led some sanctions experts in Washington to question if the case might have been delayed or dropped.