The U.S. Justice Department is poised to resolve its long-running criminal case against Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank through a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), Reuters reported Monday. 

In a court filing, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said prosecutors and the bank had reached a DPA though he gave no details of the terms, Reuters said. The department has historically used DPAs to exact institutional reforms and monetary outlays with criminal charges withheld but not wholly taken off of the table should the targeted company fail to meet the terms of the deal at a later date.  

Berman said he would question both sides about the deal at a hearing already scheduled for Wednesday, Reuters reported. 

Halkbank was charged in 2019 with fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy over allegations that it helped Iran evade U.S. economic sanctions. Prosecutors accused the lender of using money service businesses and front companies in Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates in a sanctions-evasion scheme, according to the report. The bank has pleaded not guilty. 

The case stemmed from a broader sanctions-busting investigation that also produced criminal cases against Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab and former Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla. Prosecutors said Halkbank secretly transferred $20 billion in restricted funds, converted oil revenue into gold and cash for Iranian interests, and used fake food shipments to justify transfers of oil proceeds, the news agency said. 

Zarrab pleaded guilty in 2017 to bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy charges, but has not been sentenced. He later testified against Atilla, who was convicted in 2018 of bank fraud and conspiracy charges and returned to Turkey in 2019 after serving most of a 32-month prison term, according to Reuters. 

The expected agreement follows years of litigation that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In October 2025, the high court let stand an appeals court ruling allowing the prosecution to proceed.

Read more at Reuters