Türkiye's state lender Halkbank asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling saying it can be prosecuted for allegedly helping Iran evade American sanctions, a U.S.-based lawyer for the bank said on Monday.
The Supreme Court had given Halkbank until Monday to file a petition appealing the Oct. 22, 2024, decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan allowing the prosecution.
In a letter to the appeals court, Halkbank's lawyer Robert Cary said the bank has filed the petition. The petition was not available on the Supreme Court's website. Cary did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Halkbank pleaded not guilty to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges over its alleged use of money servicers and front companies in Iran, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to evade sanctions.
Brought in 2019, the case has been a thorn in U.S.-Türkiye relations, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calling it an "unlawful, ugly" step.
The countries' ties have seen ups and downs in the last decade, amid disagreements on Syria, where the U.S. backed PKK/YPG terrorists, Türkiye’s purchase of the S-400 missile system from Russia and other matters.
But on Monday, Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump each said they had a very "productive" phone call earlier in the day, and had invited each other to their respective countries.
Halkbank's case is making a second trip to the Supreme Court.
In 2023, that court said Congress' desire to shield foreign countries and their instrumentalities from civil liability under the federal Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 did not cover criminal cases.
But in a 7-2 decision, it said the 2nd Circuit should more fully review whether common law immunity shielded Halkbank, leading to last October's ruling.
