Reza Zarrab
Iranian businessman (born 1983) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Reza Zarrab (Persian: رضا ضراب, Turkish: Rıza Sarraf;[4] born 12 September 1983) is an Iranian-born businessman based in Turkey. He has Iranian,[1] Azerbaijani,[2] Turkish[1] and North Macedonian citizenship.[5][6]
Reza Zarrab | |
|---|---|
| Born | 12 September 1983 Tabriz, Iran |
| Citizenship | Iran[1] Azerbaijan[2] Turkey[3] North Macedonia |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
In March 2016, he was arrested in the United States,[1] accused of being a member of an international criminal organization. He was charged with evading US economic sanctions on Iran and money laundering[1] in an alleged racket scheme to help Iran bypass the sanctions, involving ministers of the Turkish government of then prime minister and now president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[7][8]
His father, Hossein Zarrab, had a close relationship with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,[9] who was the President of Iran from 2005 to 2013. The US Department of Treasury accused Hossein Zarrab of violating US sanctions on Iran, and fined him a $9.1 million, reduced to $2.3 million following his cooperation with US officials.[10]
Zarrab was arrested by the FBI in Miami in March 2016 and accused of bank fraud, money laundering and helping the Iranian government in evading the US economic sanctions on Iran. His charges; conspiracy to defraud, violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, money laundering, and bank fraud; could bring up to 70 years in prison if found guilty in the US Federal Court.[1]