U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday grappled with thorny questions of sovereign immunity as they weighed a bid by Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank to avoid criminal charges in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade American economic sanctions.
WASHINGTON, Jan 17 - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday grappled with thorny questions of sovereign immunity as they weighed a bid by Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank
The case tests Halkbank's contention that it is shielded from prosecution because, as an entity majority owned by the Turkish government, it should enjoy the same legal protections as Turkey. Sovereign immunity generally protects countries from facing legal action in another country's courts. Halkbank, charged in New York in 2019, has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges over its alleged use of money servicers and front companies in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to evade U.S. sanctions.
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned against giving federal or state prosecutors "the right to insult another nation by giving them this unbridled power to initiate suits." The bank said its view is backed up by a 1976 U.S. law called the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that limits the jurisdiction of American courts over lawsuits against foreign countries. President Joe Biden's administration contends that the law does not apply to criminal prosecutions and, even if it did, the bank's actions fall under the law's exception to sovereign immunity for misconduct involving commercial activities.callingU.S.
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