US seeks to extradite Turkish businessman arrested in Austria

Justice Department indictment accuses Sezgin Baran Korkmaz of money laundering and wire fraud

The US Department of Justice has accused Sezgin Baran Korkmaz of laundering more than $133 million in fraud proceeds. Bloomberg

The US Department of Justice is looking to extradite Turkish businessman Sezgin Baran Korkmaz from Austria to face money laundering charges in Utah.

Mr Korkmaz, 43, was arrested on Saturday in Austria at the request of the US government, the department said.

“According to the superseding indictment, Korkmaz laundered over $133 million in fraud proceeds through bank accounts that he controlled in Turkey and Luxembourg,” the department said on Monday.

He has been charged with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, 10 counts of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of an official proceeding.

If convicted, the Turkish tycoon “faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the money laundering conspiracy count, 20 years in prison for each of the wire fraud counts and five years in prison for the obstruction count".

However, the case could be a complicated one.

According to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, which quoted Turkish ambassador to Austria Ozan Ceyhun, Ankara has already initiated its own extradition claim.

Mr Korkmaz fled Turkey in December amid investigations into alleged money laundering.

Interpol also issued a “red notice” for his arrest last year.

In March, the website Law and Crime reported on Mr Korkmaz's role in helping the government of former US president Donald Trump broker a deal to free US pastor Andrew Brunson, who was being held on terrorism charges in Turkey.

“The businessman had recently burst into US public life as a multimillion-dollar philanthropist and a player in Turkish efforts to curry favour in Trump’s Washington,” the website said.