Jury finds Atilla guilty on five counts, innocent on money laundering in Iran sanctions-evasion trial

A jury in New York found deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank Mehmet Hakan Atilla guilty on five counts late Wednesday, also stating he is innocent on money laundering in a trial in New York.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla is being tried in the United States in a trial on breach of now-lifted U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Turkish - Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab has accepted all the charges against him and agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors as a witness against Atilla.

Zarrab was detained last year in Miami on charges of violating sanctions against Iran, while Atilla was arrested in the U.S. earlier this year on similar sanctions violations charges.

Defense attorneys made a second mistrial request earlier on the same day, saying that prosecutors questioned Atilla based on a report prepared by a fugitive member of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), Osman Zeki Canıtez, in an attempt to strengthen the government's case.

The request was again declined by judge Richard Berman, whose links to FETÖ has long overshadowed the trial.