Reza Zarrab, a witness in an ongoing trial in the U.S. against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a former deputy general manager of Halkbank who has been charged with allegedly evading U.S. sanctions on Iran, has been accused of raping his former cellmate. A lawsuit filed on Wednesday alleges that Zarrab sexually assaulted 62-year-old Faouzi Jaber on numerous occasions at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. The inmate claims Zarrab abused him between November 2016 and March 2017.
The inmate “felt helpless and unable to fight off the younger and stronger” man, the lawsuit says.
Zarrab’s lawyers deny the allegations. “The allegations are outrageous and false from a source that is not remotely credible,” said Robert Anello, one of Zarrab’s lawyers. Officials determined there was inadequate evidence to establish whether the assault had occurred.
Jaber pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiring to provide material support for a terror organization. He says Zarrab first became his friend and then offered to cover the costs of a private lawyer and had funds sent to Jaber’s family in Africa and his commissary account.
Zarrab said he paid a prison guard $45,000 to get contraband in prison. He said his "Turkish attorney" paid the guard. The money was for alcohol, use of a mobile phone and DayQuil. Zarrab also admitted to "smoking synthetic marijuana" while in federal custody. "I don't know whether this is a crime or not within the law," he said, but added there was probably a "regulation" against it.
A letter delivered by defense lawyers described a telephone conversation between Zarrab and a person named Ahad on Sept. 15, 2016. In the conversation, Zarrab said he needed to lie “in order to get out or to get a reduced sentence.” The conversation took place six months after he was arrested in the U.S. and over a year before he pleaded guilty.
In a secret court hearing on Oct. 26, Zarrab pleaded guilty and became a cooperating witness. When asked last week on why he decided to give evidence, Zarrab said “Cooperation was the fastest way to accept responsibility and to get out of jail at once.”
The document continues “you need to admit to crimes you haven’t committed.” Shortly thereafter, Zarrab says “In America in order to make it out of prison you need to admit to something you haven’t committed.”
The two-page letter was filed publicly by mistake, and was therefore removed from the public docket. Judge Berman kept the guilty plea secret for weeks but ordered the letters to be put back on the public docket yesterday.
Zarrab was arrested in the U.S. last year on fraud and Iran sanctions-related charges. An investigation into Zarrab launched by Istanbul’s top prosecutor is currently underway.
