The US Department of Justice has moved to dismiss criminal charges against Türkiye Halk Bankası, better known as Halkbank, after the Turkish state-owned lender completed a deferred prosecution agreement reached in March 2026. The bank was originally indicted in October 2019 for allegedly helping Iran move roughly $20 billion through the US financial system in violation of sanctions.
Halkbank paid no fines. It admitted no wrongdoing. Its shares jumped somewhere between 4% and 10% on the news. For context, when BNP Paribas settled its own Iran sanctions case, it paid nearly $9 billion.
Seven years, zero penalties
The original indictment accused Halkbank of conspiracy to evade Iran sanctions, money laundering, and bank fraud. The alleged scheme involved front companies and misleading statements to move Iranian funds through channels that were supposed to be locked down by US sanctions.
The case wound its way through the US court system for years, including a trip to the Supreme Court. That ruling was actually significant: the justices affirmed that state-owned entities are not immune from criminal prosecution under US law.
