A Manhattan trial that has caused a furor in Turkey couldn’t keep one juror awake.
After a day of testimony about a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman noted that one of the jurors has been steadily snoozing since the trial began on Tuesday.
“Today almost all day,” Berman said.
“And really sound asleep!” he added.
He noted that during jury selection, the man was asked what he liked to do in his free time and his answer was “Sleep.”
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Berman said the juror seemed like a “nice fellow” but would be excused and replaced by an alternate when the trial resumes on Monday.
The trial centers on allegations that Turkish government and banking officials conspired in a multibillion-dollar operation to move Iranian money through U.S. banks using phony documents, dummy companies and massive bribes.
Much of the testimony has revolved around complex banking transactions illustrated by poster-board diagrams and transcripts of translated phone calls.
In the most dramatic moment of the trial so far, the star witness testified on Thursday that he was told Turkish President Recep Erdogan had ordered two banks to join in the Iranian trades.
“Mr. Prime Minister and Ali Babacan [the Turkish treasury minister] gave approval. It’s finished already,” Turkish gold trader Rez Zarrab said on a phone call captured by a wiretap, according to a transcript shown to jurors on Thursday. Erdogan was prime minister at the time of the call.
On Friday, the judge told prosecutors they should also play the audio of that “sensitive” call, which was in Turkish, to quell any questions about its authenticity.
“I don’t think that information should be lightly put out there,” Berman said. He later added, “I don’t want anyone just casually making those references.”
Erdogan has asked both the Obama and Trump administrations to drop the case. His supporters claim the trial is a a theatrical plot against Erdogan hatched by his rival, cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is living in self-imposed exile in the United States.
Zarrab, the linchpin of the money-laundering operation, was originally the lead defendant in the federal case. But he cut a deal with prosecutors and is now the star witness against Hakan Atilla, the deputy general manager of Halkbank, which the Turkish government owns. Atilla’s attorneys say he is a lowly dupe being blamed for the actions of corrupt higher-ups.
Prosecutors have also charged seven other Turks — including the former economic minister, who allegedly took more than $60 million in bribes — but they are all still in Turkey and are not on trial.
The government’s questioning of Zarrab — who is famous in Turkey because he is married to a singing star — will continue on Monday. Then the defense will get a chance to cross-examine him. They have already indicated they plan to attack his character and hammer him for trying to bribe a U.S. prison guard for access to liquor and women.