A Turkish national with ties to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is cooperating with federal prosecutors in a money-laundering case, NBC News reported Thursday, citing sources.
Legal experts told NBC News that prosecutors may be looking into any ties between the Turkish government and President Trump’s former national security adviser, Mike Flynn.
Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, faces charges in Manhattan for allegedly moving millions of dollars from Iranian firms and its government, skirting sanctions on Iran, according to NBC, which reported that he is out of jail and now speaking with prosecutors.
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Erdogan had hoped to avoid Zarrab speaking to U.S. authorities, according to NBC, which reported that special counsel Robert Mueller is probing whether Erdogan offered Flynn upward of $15 million during the presidential transition in December 2016 to return Erdogan’s top political rival from Pennsylvania to Turkey and make sure that Zarrab’s case was dropped.
Legal analyst and attorney Danny Cevallos told NBC that Zarrab, who is reportedly close with Erdogan, is likely cooperating with officials to look into ties between Flynn and the Turkish government.
“You can fill in the gaps that federal investigators are looking for any relation between Erdogan and Flynn,” Cevallos said. “So, to the extent that Zarrab has any connection or knowledge of that, it is very important that they’re flipping him.”
Erdogan previously unsuccessfully asked former Vice President Joe Biden to drop the case and fire then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose district in New York City was overseeing the case, NBC News reported.
Mueller is investigating whether Flynn, who allegedly met with top Turkish officials in New York near Trump Tower in 2016 during the presidential transition, could have carried out the deal and whether the deal would have resulted in actual payments to Flynn in the White House.