Reza Zarrab

Early life

Zarrab was born in Tabriz to Iranian Azerbaijani parents and grew up in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Reza Zarrab became a dual citizen of Turkey and Republic of Azerbaijan after settling in Istanbul. Zarrab's parents remained in Baku through 2010-11; in 2013 they were granted Turkish citizenship reportedly through facilitation of then Interior Minister Muammer Güler.

2013 corruption scandal in Turkey

Zarrab, who has business affiliation with the Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani, was detained in Istanbul on 17 December 2013 due to his involvement with the sons of three ministers (Erdoğan Bayraktar, Muammer Güler and Zafer Çağlayan) in the Turkish government and Egemen Bağış, the former minister for EU Affairs and Turkey's chief negotiator in accession talks with the European Union, in an alleged bribery, corruption and smuggling racket. The court ordered his arrest on 21 December along with Barış Güler, son of Muammer Güler, and Kaan Çağlayan, son of Zafer Çağlayan. He was released on 28 February 2014.

The investigation in Turkey revealed a system to help Iran bypass US sanctions against the country concerning the SWIFT payment system, in a scheme based on Turkish public bank Halkbank, whereby money was transferred to front companies in China and Turkey, and gold bought with that money transferred to Iran via Dubai.

Arrest in the United States

On 19 March 2016, Zarrab was arrested in Miami, Florida for conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran (by using his gold business to help Iran’s government evade the sanctions), money laundering and bank fraud. The case is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys of the Southern District of New York, led by Preet Bharara, with assistance from a trial attorney of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

During the case, prosecutors have noted that Zarrab donated $4.5 million to a charity founded by Emine Erdoğan, the wife of former prime minister and now president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Prosecutors stated that Zarrab has "close ties" to Erdogan.

After Zarrab's arrest, shares in Halkbank, whose CEO was among those charged with taking bribes from Zarrab, have fallen by 20%. He has offered to pay $50 million to achieve bail. Bail has been denied. In their brief against granting bail, prosecutors had argued that "if the defendant were able to reach Turkish soil, he could cause the highest levels of Turkish government to block his return to the United States."

In April 2017, media reported negotiations involving the U.S. and Turkish governments to the effect that Zarrab would be extradited to Turkey while in return "Turkey would be much less resistant to the US’s missions in Syria, and primarily its support to the PYD."

Personal life

Zarrab is married to the Turkish singer Ebru Gündeş. They have one child together. Ebru Gündeş reportedly filed for divorce in September 2016, but the couple reconciled shortly afterwards.

Export award

In June 2015, Zarrab received the Turkish Export Award jointly from the hands of Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekçi, and President of the Turkish Exporters Council Mehmet Büyükekşi, in a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.