The United States is seeking to extradite Turkish businessman Sezgin Baran Korkmaz from Austria to face trial in Utah on charges of money laundering and wire fraud, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.
Korkmaz allegedly laundered over $133 million in fraud proceeds through bank accounts that he controlled in Turkey and Luxembourg, according to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 28, which was unsealed on Monday.
The businessman was arrested in Austria on Saturday at the Justice Department’s request. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for money laundering, 20 years for each of the 10 counts of wire fraud and a five-year sentence for obstruction of justice, if found guilty by the Utah court.
Korkmaz is accused by U.S. prosecutors of involvement in schemes to defraud the U.S. taxpayer led by the Kingston brothers and Lev Aslan Dermen. The Kingston Brothers have admitted to fraudulently claiming subsidies of more than $500 million from the U.S. government, of which the $130 million was allegedly sent to Turkey and laundered by Korkmaz. A Utah district court has convicted Dermen of tax fraud on evidence provided by the Kingston Brothers.
The chief public prosecutor in Utah has requested the seizure of Korkmaz’s assets and their transfer to the U.S. treasury. The assets include businesses, properties and movables such as Korkmaz’s umbrella company in Turkey SBK Holding, a subsidiary in Luxembourg, a private jet, yachts, Turkish medical firm Biofarma and a hotel near the resort town of Bodrum.
Korkmaz appeared in an Austrian court on Monday. The court ruled to keep him in custody for a another 14 days, Turkey’s Duvar news website reported.
The Turkish authorities have also requested Korkmaz’s extradition to Turkey. Only the U.S. request was discussed by the Austrian court because Turkey’s application, made on Sunday, was incomplete, Turkish newspaper Sözcü said on Tuesday.
Turkish prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Korkmaz in December. The planned arrest became the focus of hot political debate in Turkey after exiled mafia leader Sedat Peker claimed in a YouTube video that Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu had tipped the businessman off about the warrant, allowing him to flee the country.
Ahval