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Security officers stand guard outside the U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, United States, on December 2, 2020. REUTERS / Tom Brenner
WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) – The United States will attempt to extradite a Turkish businessman from Austria to appear before a U.S. judge in Utah, where he is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire transfer fraud, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.
According to a substitute indictment, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz laundered more than $ 133 million in fraud proceeds through bank accounts he controlled in Turkey and Luxembourg, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Korkmaz was arrested on Saturday at the request of the ministry in Austria after the indictment of conspiracy to commit money laundering, transfer fraud and obstruction of official proceedings was unsealed.
The fraud proceeds allegedly came from a plan that resulted in false claims for more than $ 1 billion in recoverable renewable fuel tax credits for the production and sale of biodiesel by Utah-based Washakie Renewable Energy LLC.
Korkmaz and co-conspirators allegedly used the proceeds from the alleged plan to buy Turkish airline Borajet, hotels in Turkey and Switzerland, a yacht named Queen Anne, and a villa and apartment on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, the statement said .
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Adaptation by Jonathan Oatis
