Turkish singer Ebru Gündeş, gold trader Reza Zarrab complete divorce proceedings

Turkish singer Ebru Gündeş and Iranian-born businessman Reza Zarrab have completed their divorce proceedings, Turkish media reported on May 7. After his arrest in 2016 in Miami, Zarrab pleaded guilty to charges that he schemed to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

Friday May 07 2021 10:54 am

Duvar English

Turkish singer Ebru Gündeş and Iranian-born businessman Reza Zarrab have completed their divorce proceedings, Turkish media reported on May 7.

Married 11 years ago, the couple have a 10-year-old daughter named Alara, whose sole custody the court granted to Gündeş.

Gündeş had filed for divorce from Zarrab in April on the grounds that the institution of their marriage had been fundamentally damaged.

Zarrab was detained in the United States in 2016 and later pleaded guilty to charges that he schemed to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions. He then testified for the prosecution in the trial of Mehmet Hakan Attila, a former executive at Turkey's majority state-owned Halkbank.

In his testimony, Zarrab implicated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the international money laundering scheme that he and Atilla ran between 2010 and 2015 that allowed Iran to access international markets despite U.S. sanctions.

The case of Halkbank has been one of the main points of disagreement between Ankara and Washington, whose relations have plunged into crisis this year over a host of issues, including policy in Syria and Turkey’s defense purchases.

Halkbank denies any wrongdoing and Erdoğan has condemned the court case as a political attack on his government.