Page:Türkiye Halk Bankasi A.Ş. v. United States.pdf/5

2 Halkbank is a bank whose shares are majority-owned by the Turkish Wealth Fund, which in turn is part of and owned by the Republic of Turkey. In 2019, the United States indicted Halkbank for a multi-year conspiracy to evade economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran. The indictment alleged that Halkbank, with the assistance of high-ranking Turkish government officials, laundered billions of dollars of Iranian oil and gas proceeds through the global financial system, including the U. S. financial system, in violation of U. S. sanctions and numerous federal statutes. The indictment further claimed that Halkbank made false statements to the U. S. Treasury Department in an effort to conceal the scheme. Two individual defendants, including a former Halkbank executive, have already been convicted in federal court for their roles in the alleged conspiracy. According to the U. S. Government, several other indicted defendants, including Halkbank’s former general manager and its former head of foreign operations, remain at large.

Halkbank moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that an instrumentality of a foreign state such as Halkbank is immune from criminal prosecution under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, 28 U. S. C. §§1330, 1602 et seq. The U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied the motion, reasoning in relevant part that the FSIA “does not appear to grant immunity in criminal proceedings.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 25a, 34a.

Halkbank filed an interlocutory appeal, and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed. 16 F. 4th 336 (2021). The Court of Appeals first determined that the District Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this criminal prosecution under 18 U. S. C. §3231. As to the FSIA, the Court of Appeals assumed without deciding that the FSIA confers immunity in criminal proceedings to foreign states and their instrumentalities, but held that in