Summary: U.S. District Judge Richard Berman approved dismissal Prosecutor cited diplomatic efforts involving Turkey Monitor Ernst & Young found no Halkbank noncompliance A federal judge dismissed on June 17 the U.S. Justice Department's criminal indictment of Halkbank after President Donald Trump's administration reached a deal with the Turkish state-run lender, ending a prosecution brought in 2019. The bank's shares on the Istanbul stock exchange rose as much as 8.4 percent after U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said he had signed off on federal prosecutors' request to end the case. The deal was announced in March but required the judge's approval. The dismissal promised to relieve a lingering irritant between NATO allies Turkey and the United States. Halkbank was charged during Trump's first term with helping Iran evade American economic sanctions. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan once called the case unlawful and "ugly." But the countries are experiencing their best ties in decades since Trump's return to the presidency last year. "The criminal case against our bank ongoing in the United States for years has been definitively and conclusively closed," Halkbank said in a statement. Halkbank Chief Executive Recep Süleyman Özdil said the bank expected its opportunities to access foreign funding would improve. PROSECUTOR CITES DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS WITH TURKEY U.S. judges have little discretion to reject the terms of deferred prosecution agreements such as the one reached between the Justice Department and Halkbank. At the hearing, prosecutor Michael Lockard of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office said the agreement to end the case arose out of diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire last year between Israel and Hamas. "Those multilateral efforts included an instrumental role from the government of Turkey," Lockard said. After Erdogan and Trump met last year, the Turkish president expressed hope for a resolution of the Halkbank matter. Erdogan said in October that Trump told him during a September meeting at the White House and in a subsequent phone call that "the Halkbank problem is finished for us." The Justice Department has also said dropping the prosecution would further the U.S. interest in curbing support for Iran. The agreement bars Halkbank from entering transactions that benefit Iran and requires a monitor to review Halkbank's sanctions and anti-money laundering compliance. No money changes hands in the agreement, and the bank did not admit criminal wrongdoing. Halkbank had pleaded not guilty in the case. At a court hearing in March, Berman referenced a letter he received from an advocacy group urging him to press for an explanation as to why there was no financial penalty. The judge did not address the issue at Wednesday's hearing. MONITOR FINDS NO INSTANCES OF HALKBANK NONCOMPLIANCE U.S. prosecutors had accused Halkbank of secretly transferring $20 billion of restricted funds, converting oil revenue into gold and cash to benefit Iranian interests and documenting fake food shipments to justify transfers of oil proceeds. The settlement was announced after the Iran war began in February. Cemal Demirtas, the general manager for research at Istanbul-based Ata Invest, said the dismissal was positive for the bank but largely expected. After the deal was announced in March, the judge paused the case for 90 days to allow Halkbank to demonstrate compliance with its terms. Halkbank hired Ernst & Young to review its compliance policies. When that period lapsed on June 10, prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office asked Berman to formally dismiss the case, writing that the monitor, Ernst & Young, had not found any instances of noncompliance by Halkbank. The case has taken a circuitous path through the U.S. courts. The U.S. Supreme Court last October let stand a lower court's decision that allowed the prosecution to proceed. Halkbank had argued that as a Turkish state-owned entity, it should be immune from legal actions in another country's courts. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York and Canan Sevgili in Gdansk; Additional reporting by Arda Dipova and Mirac Eren Dereli in Gdansk; Editing by Will Dunham, Rod Nickel

Summary: Luigi Mangione missed June 16 court appearance due to paperwork error Mangione pleaded not guilty to murder, weapons, and forgery charges Trial set for September before Justice Gregory Carro in Manhattan     Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive on a Manhattan sidewalk, is due for a hearing in state court on June 17 ahead of his highly anticipated murder trial. Mangione, 28, missed a June 16 court appearance due to a paperwork error related to his transfer from custody, a prosecutor said. The judge called the error "unfortunate" and told the parties to return to court in Manhattan on June 17. Mangione is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in Midtown in December 2024, a brazen killing that was widely condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frustration with rising healthcare costs and health insurance industry practices. Mangione pleaded not guilty in December 2024 to state murder, weapons and forgery charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. His trial is set for September before Justice Gregory Carro in Manhattan. The agenda for the June 17 hearing is not clear, but Carro indicated that it would be related to questionnaires for prospective jurors. Thompson led UnitedHealth Group's insurance unit before he was shot dead in the early morning outside a hotel where he was staying for an investor conference. Graphic footage of the killing and a five-day manhunt for a suspect made the case a media fixture and social media sensation. Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania. Mangione separately pleaded not guilty in April 2025 to murder, weapons and stalking charges brought by Manhattan federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, who is overseeing the case, threw out the murder and weapons charges over legal technicalities in a surprise ruling in January. That decision eliminated the possibility that Mangione would face the death penalty, though he still faces a possible sentence of life without parole if convicted of stalking. Jury selection in that case is set to begin in September, and opening statements in the trial are scheduled for November. Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Christian Schmollinger and Chizu Nomiyama