Gold trader Zarrab says he was threatened
in jail for cooperating with U.S.
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[December 08, 2017]
By Brendan Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Turkish-Iranian gold
trader testifying for U.S. prosecutors in a criminal trial involving
sanctions against Iran said on Thursday that he was removed from a New
York federal jail after another inmate threatened to kill him for
cooperating with authorities.
"He said that he had received instructions to kill because I was
cooperating," the trader Reza Zarrab told jurors in a Manhattan
courtroom. He did not identify the person or say when the threat was
made. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
Zarrab said that after the encounter, he was transferred from Brooklyn,
New York's Metropolitan Detention Center to the custody of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
The account came near the end of Zarrab's testimony, which began last
Wednesday and concluded on Thursday afternoon.

Zarrab, a Turkish and Iranian national, pleaded guilty in October to
charges that he schemed to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions.
Zarrab is testifying for U.S. prosecutors against an executive from
Turkey's majority state-owned Halkbank who is accused of taking part in
the scheme with Zarrab.
The executive, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, has pleaded not guilty and the bank
has said that all of its transactions complied with international
regulations.
U.S. prosecutors have charged nine people in the case with conspiring to
help Iran evade sanctions. Only Zarrab, 34, and Atilla, 47, have been
arrested by U.S. authorities.
Earlier on Thursday, a lawyer for Atilla, Cathy Fleming, sought through
cross-examination to undermine Zarrab's credibility. Zarrab conceded
under her questioning that he had lied repeatedly in the course of
business, including to Atilla.
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Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab is shown in this court room sketch
with lawyer Marc Agnifilo (L) as he appears in Manhattan federal
court in New York, U.S., April 24, 2017. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

However, when Fleming asked Zarrab about a letter he signed to
former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledging to aid in
"economic jihad," Zarrab denied making such a pledge. He said he did
not read Farsi and had signed the letter without knowing what it
meant.
Zarrab also denied telling his uncle in a telephone call from jail
"that in this country you have to admit to something you haven't
done in order to become free." A summary of that call was included
in a court filing by Atilla's lawyers earlier this week.
Over his seven days of testimony in Manhattan federal court, Zarrab
said Turkish officials took bribes and helped Iran launder money.
The case has strained ties between the United States and Turkey,
both members of the NATO military alliance. President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has cast the trial as an attempt to undermine his country
and its economy.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Toni Reinhold)
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