Turkish businessman extradited to U.S. to face laundering, fraud charges
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Turkish businessman Sezgin Baran Korkmaz was extradited from Austria and arrived on Friday in Utah to face cash laundering and wire fraud costs, the U.S. Justice Division mentioned in a press release.
Korkmaz arrived within the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
He was charged earlier in Utah with laundering greater than $133 million in unlawful proceeds by means of financial institution accounts he managed in Turkey and Luxembourg, the Justice Division mentioned. The USA mentioned final yr it was looking for to extradite him.
If convicted, Korkmaz faces a most penalty of 20 years in jail for every rely of cash laundering conspiracy, wire fraud and obstruction of an official continuing, the division mentioned.
U.S. prosecutors say the fraud proceeds stemmed from a scheme involving the submitting of false claims for greater than $1 billion in renewable gas tax credit for the manufacturing and sale of biodiesel by Utah-based Washakie Renewable Power LLC.
Korkmaz and co-conspirators allegedly used the proceeds from the scheme to purchase the Turkish airline Borajet, accommodations in Turkey and Switzerland, a yacht named the “Queen Anne” and a villa and an condo on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, the Justice Division mentioned.
In coordination with authorities in Lebanon, the U.S. Marshals Service took the “Queen Anne” yacht into custody in July 2021 and offered it earlier this yr for $10.11 million pursuant to an October 2021 order of a U.S. choose.
Korkmaz was arrested in June final yr in Austria on the request of the Justice Division. He moreover confronted costs of cash laundering in Turkey.
Turkey had additionally initiated an extradition course of with Austrian authorities and in August 2021, an Austrian court docket dominated to extradite him to Turkey.
In December, authorities detained 10 executives working at Korkmaz’s firms, after Turkey’s Monetary Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) mentioned the businesses have been used for cash laundering, Turkish state-news company Anadolu had reported.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in WashingtonEditing by Marguerita Choy)
