Reza Zarrab

Reza Zarrab was arrested March 19 2016 in Florida. He‘s accused of ducking sanctions by moving hundreds of millions of dollars for the Iranian government and Iranian firms via offshore entities and bank accounts. Turkish President Recep Erdogan defended Zarrab when the dual Turkish-Iranian citizen was fingered in a 2013 Turkish corruption scandal that also implicated Erdogan associates. The Turkish leader called Zarrab, who had given his wife’s charity $4.5 million, a philanthropist. All charges against Zarrab and Erdogan’s pals were dropped. Mr. Zarrab secretly pleaded guilty on Oct. 26 2017 to conspiring in the sanctions scheme. Mr. Zarrab offered new details about an unrelated charge to which he also pleaded guilty — bribing a guard at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was held, in return for contraband like alcohol and for the use of the guard’s cellphone. He agreed to avoid 130 years in prison. In 2021 it was reported that he's in Miami and still receiving wire transfers from Turkey and buying thoroughbred horses though now he does so using fake identities.