Terrorism support case filed against Zarrab and Halkbank in the US
AFGHANISTAN In the US, a compensation lawsuit was filed against Halkbank and Reza Zarrab on behalf of American soldiers and their families who were killed or injured in the terrorist attacks in Syria. In the lawsuit filed in the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, Zarrab and Halkbank were asked to be held liable for assisting in the terrorist attacks and for participating in a conspiracy related to the attacks.
The plaintiffs were 151 victims of 27 attacks in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2020 and one attack in Syria from 2012 to 2013. The lawsuit alleged that Zarrab and Halkbank “systematically assisted the National Iranian Oil Company, known as affiliated with the Iranian “Islamic Revolutionary Guard, to finance terrorist operations by evading anti-terrorist sanctions from 2012 to 2016.”
Zarrab, arrested in the United States in 2016, later cooperated with prosecutors and accepted charges of forgery and money laundering.
The petition claimed that the defendants acted knowing they were aiding terrorist and violent activities. It was also claimed that they had initiated and deliberately concealed a scheme to launder Iran’s oil revenues and that they knew why and for whom they were doing it. The judge asked that a copy of the complaint be sent to the bank’s representatives by October 1 and that Halkbank respond by January 29.