A Turkish banker was sentenced Wednesday to 32 months in prison for his role in the largest sanctions-busting case in U.S. history.
Mehmet Atilla, 47, the deputy general manager of the Turkish state bank Halkbank, was convicted in January of helping Iran launder billions in oil money.
The case in Manhattan Federal Court riveted Turkey and strained diplomatic relations with the U.S. Turkish President Recep Erdogan said the case was a conspiracy engineered by his enemies.
But Judge Richard Berman acknowledged the crooked scheme was engineered by people far more powerful than the banker.
“There were other conspirators far more significant than Mr. Atilla … including high ranking Turkish government officials,” Berman said, explaining the sentence he described as “lenient.”
“Mr. Atilla appears to be a person doing his job, sometimes reluctantly or hesitantly,” Berman added.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard said the closely-watched case was “the biggest sanctions-evasions case prosecuted in the U.S. that we’re aware of.”
Prosecutors said that Atilla began assisting in the money-laundering scheme in 2012, which disguised Iranian oil money as bogus gold and food transactions through Halkbank.
Atilla has already served 14 months in prison, which will be credited toward his sentence.