Reza Zarrab’s sanctions extraterritoriality challenge rejected

Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian businessman charged in March 2016 with conspiring to evade US sanctions on Iran, has lost his application to have the case against him dismissed. He  is the first foreign national accused of violating US banking sanctions on Iran and said the prosecution was “a dangerous extension of US law that should not be allowed”. District Judge Richard Berman said the U.S. has authority to bring these cases because it has to defend itself against Iran’s sponsorship of international terrorism and that U.S. anti-money-laundering law “applies to foreign nationals or persons acting outside the United States if they are engaging in a transaction that involves property that is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States”.