The Supreme Court of USA rejected Turkish Halkbank’s request to end the trial concerning charges of assistance in Iran for the circumvention Financial sanctions.

Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office blames the Halkbank that has contributed to the release of Iranian funds of $ 20 billion and the legalization of at least $ 1 billion through the US financial system.

According to the indictment, the bank allegedly transformed revenue from oil into gold and cash, while documenting False shipments of food and drugs to cover the transfer of revenue. The categories it faces include money laundering, fraud and conspiracy.

Last week, the Turkish government decided to “freeze” the assets of 16 people and 15 organizations allegedly related to Iran’s nuclear program, with a decision bearing the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan himself had raised the issue at a recent meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House, demanding his resolution.

Since 2019, when the prosecution was brought, Halkbank has repeatedly tried to stop the process, citing the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), the US law that protects foreign governments from lawsuits in US courts.

In 2023, the Supreme Court had already rejected the bank’s first appeal, judging that he is not entitled to dominant immunity against criminal prosecutions. The case returned to a lower court, on the order of being examined if immunity could apply under customary law.

In her latest objection, Halkbank argued that she was covered by immunity under the context of customary lawciting that “no judicial authority in history has condemned a criminal body of equal dominant state, even in cases involving commercial activities”. The Federal Court of Appeal rejected these arguments in October.