Thread by @KlasfeldReports

Günaydın from New York. Merhaba to those in Turkey.

Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla ended his second day of direct examination with vehement denials. He's in the prosecutor's hands now.

Plus: What @WikiLeaks file on Turkey is too hot for a NYC jury? courthousenews.com/us-takes-turn-…

This story was published last night, which was likely very early morning today for those in Turkey.

You may remember there was a hearing scheduled this morning for 7:45 a.m. New York time (aka roughly 10 minutes ago).

These proceedings related to jury instructions, and are apparently happening privately between the parties. A summary will be put on the public record later.

Meanwhile, I'm going to grab a quick bite and return. Görüşürüz.

A few quick thoughts on the WikiLeaks-related testimony yesterday.

As I reported, the exact file is unknown, but there are some clues. A prosecutor said the information is classified. That suggests one of the diplomatic cables leaked by Chelsea Manning.

(After all, that wouldn't make sense if the subject of the testimony were, say, one of the files released under the name "AKP Emails.")

Hakan Atilla's name does not appear under a Cablegate search, but Halkbank's does.

Of the 30 matching files, 27 are marked unclassified. That leaves three. One of them appears to correspond more directly to Atilla's testimony, as it relates to a meeting with Treasury officials.

It is marked "Secret."

Find it yet readers?

Wow, I apparently didn't scroll down far enough. I see two strong candidates for the cable in question now, thanks to a reader tip.

Correction on the breakdown of unclassified to sensitive on Halkbank-related cables: 22 unclassified to eight sensitive.

Witness + Halkbank in this 2009 cable:

"During an October 19-20 visit to Ankara, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes David Cohen cautioned government and banking officials about doing business with Iranian banks."

wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/0…

Caveat: This is at best an educated guess. There has been no confirmation, given U.S. secrecy rules.

Note: Trial has not started yet today. General rumbling in the courtroom. The witness seat is empty.

Atilla's back on the stand. Similar, if not the same outfit as yesterday. Sipping water, and waiting for trial to begin.

"All rise!"

The jury is entering.

Berman: "While you were all waiting, we -- myself and the lawyers -- were discussing the jury instructions in a charge conference. I think we're pretty much there."

He said the court will put those instructions on the record on a break.

Cross-examination resumes.

Prosecutor Denton begins with the meeting with Adam Szubin, ex-OFAC director, on bilateral restrictions.

Q: You couldn't use Iranian oil money for goods shipped from Turkey to Dubai, for example, [right]?
A: So, that's what I assume... I don't know all the details...

He says that's correct, in the general outline.

Observation: The tone of Denton's questioning is sharp, fast, and pointed. The questions and the answers come quickly.

Service advisory: This might affect my personal ability to take down exact quotations.

Denton: "Mr. Atilla, I want to talk about the gold trade now."

Denton: You knew that even before that it was illegal to sell gold to the government of Iran, right?
Atilla: Yes, we knew it.

Q: You know the Central Bank of Iran is part of the government of Iran, right?
A: I presume that it is.

Q: And you know that the National Iranian Oil Company is part of the government of Iran, [right]?
A: I'm not sure about that one, but I assume that it might be...

Denton asks whether Atilla checked the OFAC list to see if NIOC was on it.

Atilla: I know that NIOC was on the OFAC, but I don't know for what reason it was on that list.

Denton asks if he didn't check that as carefully as what he testified about on direct examination.

Note: That kind of question is a classic example of how prosecutors call a witness's candor into question for the jury.

Q: So you know that it matters to those banks whom a payment instruction says it's for?
A: Well, of course, it is important, and it should be check who the sender and recipient are.

Prosecutor loops back to the Szubin meeting at Halkbank.

Denton questions Atilla's testimony that OFAC and Treasury officials did not warn him about the Iranian transactions.

"No, that's not what I said, and I'll repeat what I said if you want," he says.

Denton says "No" and takes control of his own questioning.

Denton's tone is growing increasingly aggressive.

Denton: Let's be clear, Mr. Atilla. You sat here when David Cohen testified?
Atilla: Yes.

Same with Szubin and Joshua Kirschenbaum, a FinCen representative. (Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network)

Denton shows Atilla an email sent to him and Levent Balkan.

Suleyman Aslan is CC-d. The subject is the gold trade.

It relates to a news article.

Atilla says there are many news articles on the topic. He does not knew which was true or which was false.

Atilla: I didn't say it was false news, but it doesn't mean that this is true.

There were many opinions on this, Atilla notes.

He's a savvy news consumer. He doesn't dismiss the information out of hand, or insult the press. He simply treats the information with skepticism.

From a journalist, bravo.

All be it, the testimony is also self-serving, but it's good advice for approaching breaking news and opinion.

Back to the trial.

Judge asks whether Atilla remembers what Szubin told him about sale of gold between Turkey and Iran.

Atilla: No, your honor. I absolutely do not remember such a thing.

He adds that if he had, he would explain it.

Denton says that he will try to jog Atilla's memory.

Denton: The news wasn't all bad.

The article said that "Iran's woes" became a "boon" to Turkey, Denton says.

Atilla says that would be true if it meant Turkey's debt was lowered.

"We were following the foreign trade numbers," Atilla said.

New email to Atilla.

Translator gets confused, repeats English question into English to Atilla.

Laughter in the courtroom.

This seems to relate to another news story that relates to imports to Turkey in March.

The news was apparently bad for Turkey's trade deficit.

(By the way, I don't mean to offend the translator here. Memes aside, we all get mixed up sometimes, and we try our best to get the job done.)

Message to the translator.

That goes to all the translators doing their best here, really. You know who you are.

Okay, back to the trial. New email: Atilla to Aslan.

Denton asks questions about a Zarrab company - sounds like Safir

Q: On the top half, you see Reza Zarrab's two companies listen on number five and six.
A: Yes, I see that.

Q: Each of them exporting more than a billion euros of gold, am I right?
Atilla says that's correct

There's no one else with numbers over a billion, Atilla confirms.

Denton asks whether Atilla doesn't remember Adam Szubin telling him about gold sales with the government of Iran because that wasn't important to him.

"I didn't say that it wasn't important to me," Atilla says.

Atilla: "It was not worded exactly as was stated. I believed that we had mentioned this matter in a similar way. ... I would be happy to explain to you as I remember what was said - that the companies involved with gold trade were gold trade companies."

Atilla says that there was a "check being conducted" as to whether they were government entities are not.

He also explains what was forbidden.

Denton and Atilla are disputing whether certain funds came from the government of Iran, or the private sector.

Testimony turns to a call between Atilla and Zarrab

Now it turns to an email that Atilla received when he was in Barcelona.

Denton asks if Atilla received it on smartphone?
Yes.

Denton asks if his smartphone can receive emails?
"Unfortunately, yes."

Atilla is witty.

Atilla: "Nobody can make me do something I don't want to do."

Somehow, Giphy does not have a Frank Sinatra singing "My Way" meme.

This is a bad oversight.

Back to the trial, where testimony has delved into rather arcane banking mechanisms.

Testimony turns to a tricky Dubai sale involving Hakan Aydogan.

Atilla: What Hakan Aydogan was asking here is different than the payment system.

Aydogan was told that a customer request wasn't feasible.

Will dig into the context later.

Q: There came a point in 2013 when Suleyman Aslan and Reza Zarrab were arrested, right?
Atilla says yes, it was in December.

Denton asks whether Halkbank conducted an internal investigation after these arrests.
Atilla says yes.

Denton asks what the investigation found.

"They checked the procedures. In other words, let me put it this way, there were two different topics."

Atilla said that the bank's auditors and inspectors took a look, and so did an independent auditor.

Atilla's description of what they found seems a bit dense. I'm going to check the transcript. This testimony is still ongoing, and I'll try to piece it together.

"They did not put anything in their reports as to anything negative that they found," Atilla said.

He adds that the auditors only write something in their report if they find something negative.

Atilla says he believes that the BDDK - a Turkish regulatory agency - also ran an audit, but he doesn't remember anything about that.

Denton claims that one report concluded that Atilla violated Iran sanctions.

Fleming objects and asks to speak to the judge at sidebar.

The prosecutors and defense attorneys huddle with Berman out of earshot of the jury.

Just a note to the readers: When there's a choice between breaking news and memes, I always choose the news. I'm listening closely, and will of course report anything that I find notable here.

Cooling it with the memes now, and we'll see what develops after the sidebar.

Anyone need a refresher on what a "sidebar" is, in legal jargon?

(Private meeting with the judge and attorneys, away from the jury, to discuss legal issues.)

Not sure what just happened. Atilla's off the stand.

We on break?

Talk amongst yourselves.

Hot mic moment: Prosecutor laughs about the translator translating English into English. It isn't clear with whom he's talking about that incident.

Atilla's back on the stand. General rumbling in the courtroom.

Atilla had been holding his face with his hand, and now rests his arm on the armrest, leaning to one side. Waiting patiently, and occasionally fiddling about, as he waits for trial to resume.

"All rise."

The jury enters.

Berman orders the prosecutor's question about the alleged report stricken from the record, and tells the jury to ignore it.

Wow.

(Side note: A rumor among reporters is that there is no report that accused Atilla of such a violation. We likely will find out what happened when today's transcript becomes public.)

(Also, I would normally not tweet such chatter, but this speculation has credibility given Berman's ruling.)

Q: Mr. Atilla, you've sat here throughout this entire trial, haven't you?
A: Yes.

Denton asks if Atilla has watched every witness and looked at every exhibit.

Q: No other witness sat through this whole trial, have they?

Atilla's confused by the question.

Then Atilla adds that he assumes that's correct.

Testimony turns to Atilla's conversation with FBI agent McReynolds, specifically about the wiretaps.

Q: You don't remember you said: "No, you don't have that."
A: I recall that. What I meant that was when the individual said that they had that.

Atilla adds he meant: "It's not something that you had done, it is something that you had been given."

Once again, the conversation is in this video:

Denton asks whether Atilla remembers Szubin testifying about a private meeting with Atilla confronting him about Iran transactions.

The so-called "pull-aside."

Q: Your testimony today is that that never happened?
A: That is absolutely the case.

If that happened, Atilla said, they would have stopped those transaction.

If Szubin had that concern, Atilla said, Szubin wouldn't have permitted Halkbank to perform such transactions in 2016.

Context: In case you missed the original "pull-aside" testimony.

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Cross examination ends. Redirect begins.

Berman jokes he's timing his stopwatch (for redirect).

Fleming quips she's getting older, but she can still move.

The exchange is clear: They need to stick to a timetable.

Atilla: "I've never been in a meeting or anywhere, where violating sanctions was discussed."

There was never a point where he reached an agreement with Reza Zarrab on these things, he adds.

Q: Do you remember being asked some questions about various accounts at various banks at Halkbank?
A: Yes, I remember.

Fleming refers to Denton's questions about blocked transactions.

Atilla: Yes, I remember.

Fleming introduces a new defense exhibit into evidence.

Atilla: A U.S. company had sold food to Iran, and Halkbank is sending the payment for this to the U.S. company. And I'm saying that even though the seller is a U.S. company, still, do not do this.

Q: Do not do what?
A: I am telling them they should not use U.S. dollars and the American banking system.

Atilla: "It is our policy at our bank that U.S. dollars and the U.S. banking system should not be used for anything involving Iran."

(Side note: Surprised that such a piece of evidence, if it says what Atilla says it says, didn't make it into evidence earlier.)

Testimony turns to another piece of evidence: a news article shared in an email.

A Reuters article, cc: @brenpiers

Email was sent by someone whose name sounds like Murat Usal - a deputy general manager responsible for Treasury.

Fleming said she butchered the name.

Sidebar. Unclear what about. Standby.

Turning to the arrest video, Fleming asks Atilla whether he remembers one of the agents saying they would be happy to discuss and "possibly overcome" the allegations.

Atilla says he remembers.

Testimony turns to the SDN list - list of "specially designated nationals," an Iran transactions watch list.

Asks about Denton's skeptical question about Atilla not being an expert on sanctions.

Fleming says the question was basic stuff. Atilla agrees.

Q: Last question, is Bank Sarmayeh an Iranian government owned bank or a private bank.
Atilla says private bank.

Atilla's off the stand. Lunch break.

Berman says that closing arguments will start and end today, and deliberations will start tomorrow.

Quicker lunch break than usual: Hearings restart in 30 minutes.

1:30 p.m. New York time, 21:30 Turkish time.

Have to eat in a flash. Görüşürüz.

Loose end untied: What happened to the alleged jailhouse tapes of Zarrab? Did they make it into the record? We'll find out soon enough, and it seems pretty important.

Remember: The parties were arguing about it in motions until the end.

"May I proceed your honor?" prosecutor Lockard says.

Prosecutor: "This is a case about lies. ...

This is a case about the lies that Mr. Atilla told to cover-up a multibillion dollar sanctions busting scheme."

"Lies that were built into the very architecture of the method that Mr. Atilla devised..."

"Lies that Mr. Atilla told in his testimony over the last two days."

Names various Iranian entities that Lockard claims that Atilla lied about to prevent a "death blow" against Halkbank.

Lockard: You've seen the elaborate and complicated system that was devised....

Refers to gold exports in cargo planes, and fake food transactions "papered over" with fake documents.

"He lied about Halkbank's due diligence. He lied about the nature of the gold business... He lied about the fake food trade..."

Atilla told U.S. regulators the trade was "rigorous" and "careful."

"You saw that the bank and Mr. Atilla exempted Mr. Zarrab from these requirements." Lockard says.

"You saw that none of that happened with Reza Zarrab. He lied about the gold business."

Lockard says it's "impossible not to be aware" that these experts were for the Iranian government and NIOC.

"And he lied about the fake food trade," Lockard says.

Atilla said only large well-known customers permitted, but Zarrab doesn't fit this bill, the prosecutor said.

"Now, Mr. Atilla also lied during his testimony. Some of those lies were small. Some of them were medium. Some of them were whoppers." Lockard said.

Giving an example, Lockard claims that Atilla played down his knowledge of English language for plausible deniability.

"You watched him correct the interpreter's translation. ... You watched him answer in English."

"Mr. Atilla's sanctions expertise," Lockard says, shows much more sophistication than he claimed.

"You know that Mr. Atilla met with Mr. Cohen and Mr. Szubin in ... 2012," Lockard says.

"To tout its due diligence, and it was Mr. Atilla who said those things. It was Mr. Atilla who was the principle counterpart at these meetings," the prosecutor said.

Lockard says Atilla met with two Treasury officials in Feb. 2013, regarding the bilateral trade restrictions.

Atilla said that he read it and understood it.

"And again, that was Mr. Atilla," Lockard says.

Note: Prosecutor's summation sounds like an incantation. The technique is clear: associating "Mr. Atilla" with "lies," and placing him center in the scheme.

"Let's talk about some of the whoppers" (i.e. lies) Atilla told, Lockard says.

Lockard counts Atilla's statements about gold exports among them.

"How else do you know that the gold went out? Because they were directed to send gold out," Lockard says.

"Gold in Iran is not much use. Gold in Dubai can be" spent and used," Lockard says.

"Another whopper: Halkbank ... complied with the sanctions," Lockard says. "That cannot be true."

Lockard predicts that Atilla may argue that he didn't know, but adds that it can't be true that Halkbank didn't.

Lockard speaks about Atilla's meetings with U.S. regulators on sanctions against Iran. He goes through the evolving restrictions.

(This passage of Lockard's summation is a chronology of U.S. sanctions against Iran during this period as relevant to Halkbank.)

Speaking of the "pull-aside," Lockard said: "You heard Mr. Atilla lie about that too."

"It was a friendly, information-sharing atmosphere," Lockard says, mocking Atilla's description.

In reality, Lockard said, Halkbank was feeling the "heat."

Szubin said "Halkbank was in a category of one," Lockard says.

Lockard says Atilla's response was "sweaty, as it should have been."

The prosecutor casts doubt on Atilla's denials.

"This meeting proves that he was warned: That he should have known, and he did know," Lockard says. "That is why he is denying that it happened."

Lockard turns to the meetings in 2012, with the head of NIOC, its executives, and NICO.

Mr. Atilla denied at these meetings, which Lockard calls a lie.

"What good does it do Iran to transfer money from one restricted account to another restricted account?" Lockard asks.

That's where Zarrab came in, he adds.

Lockard: "You heard Mr. Atilla deny that he was a part of those discussions again and again and again."

Lockard says the NIOC and the Central Bank of Iran are Atilla's "business."

Zarrab: "How else do you know that Mr. Atilla was at this meeting? Because Mr. Zarrab talks about it."

The 2012 meetings, that is.

Zarrab talks about it during the wiretapped discussions. Lockard says that Zarrab didn't know he was being recorded, and has no reason to lie.

"So that's why we spent so much time in that October 2012 meeting," Lockard says.

He moves onto mid-2013. Sanctions change.

Oil-for-gold no longer works, and so the food trade begins, Lockard says.

Zarrab and Happani call refers to "çıkanova", and also mentions Atilla.

Lockard says their candor on the first subject shows them being honest about the second.

"What is the method? What is it that Mr. Atilla did?" Lockard says.

Lockard says that Aydogan sent a revised proposal for Atilla's approval.

This method called for bills of lading, which are traceable, the prosecutor said.

Lockard said that the group has a "Gang can't shoot straight problems."

Refers to large shipments on small ships, which Atilla called a "technical error."

"How can it be a technical error?" Lockard scoffs.

Why don't they use bigger ships, Lockard asks.

His answer: They can't use bigger ships without having to file traceable bills of lading.

Second "Gang can't shoot straight" issue:

"Wheat doesn't grow in Dubai."

I'll dig up Zarrab's testimony on this from earlier.

Here's what Lockard just referred to:

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"There's been a huge red flag, after a huge red flag, after a huge red flag thrown at Mr. Atilla," Lockard says.

Legally, here's what the prosecutor is getting at in an important legal principle: conscious avoidance, which you will hear a lot about during deliberations.

Even if the jury determines Atilla did NOT know about the sanctions violations, the jury could find that he SHOULD have known and stuck his head in the sand about it to avoid legal liability.

Think of an ostrich hiding from the police.

That's what, in U.S. law, is called "conscious avoidance."

Prosecutor: "The fact that Mr. Atilla testified does not change the government's burden in this case."

The burden, meaning, to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Called it: Prosecutor just invoked "conscious avoidance" explicitly.

"It is impossible to believe from the evidence that you've seen and the testimony tat you heard that Mr. Atilla had any doubt about what was happening at his bank," Lockard says.

Prosecutor calls this a "clear cut" case of "conscious avoidance" if you do believe him, and he's even more guilty if you don't, he says.

Lockard said Atilla's "changed his tune about a lot of things."

"Before his arrest, he's an important man," Lockard says. ... "At this trial, he tried to tell you that he's not that important. ... He's tried to tell you that he's peripheral."

"You know that none of that is true," Lockard says, citing Atilla's high-profile clients like NIOC.

"Mr. Atilla was the lead person in that relationship," he says. "Now Mr. Atilla is a smart man. That much is clear. Mr. Atilla knows how to lie. That much is also clear."

"The only person who has been involve the [whole] time, the only person who has been there at every step is Hakan Atilla," Lockard says.

The prosecutor describes the charges the jury will be deciding.

"He conspired with others to violate the IEEPA" (International Emergency Economic Powers Act, aka U.S. sanctions.)

Lockard: I am minutes away from wrapping up.

Defense up next, and then Lockard's colleague Sidhardha Kamaraju does rebuttal summations.

Note: Prosecutors get two turns, to the defense's one turn, under U.S. law, because prosecutors bear the burden of proving guilt.

Victor Rocco is up now for Atilla.

"Your honor, may I proceed?" Rocco asks.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, good afternoon."

Thanks the jury for their time, attention, patience, etc.

Rocco: This "has been the Reza Zarrab show."

Rocco: And "his vast criminal enterprise, the staggering trail of lies and corruption ... that he left on three continents."

While he "amassed a personal fortune."

Rocco" "That same master criminal who joined Iran's economic jihad against the United States" is now "embraced by our government," accusing another "human being," his client Atilla.

Rocco: Korkmaz fled Turkey, leaving "political turmoil" in his trial in Turkey, gets $50,000, free rent, and safe-passage and asylum.

Rocco: "Hakan Atilla is a blameless pawn"...
"His case belongs "in the Twilight Zone... not an American courtroom."

Rocco: The government has "failed to prove Hakan Atilla's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

Refers to prosecutor's description of Atilla as the "architect."

Rocco: "Did it [prove that]?"

The real architect, Rocco says, is Reza Zarrab.

Rocco stepped away from the mic!

Phew, he's back!

Rocco hits Zarrab's pledge of "economic jihad," and cites the prosecutor's remark that "Iran didn't need soldiers; it needed a banker."

"The evidence showed that Iran needed a banker, and that banker was Suleyman Aslan," Rocco responds.

Atilla is an "honest, hardworking man who goes to work every day," never accepted a bribe, unlike others accused in this case, Rocco says.

Rocco, describing his client's position as one of a dozen: "There were as many as 12 other deputy general managers."

Rocco: No one has suggested to you over the course of the trial ... that he was cabined some place away from other transactions... Of course, he knew what was happening, but not in great detail.

Rocco describes bank's large size and "diffuse" structure.

Analysis: Rocco's attempting to neutralize the prosecutor's conscious avoidance argument.

Rocco: You were told that he was the "architect" of this plan, this sanctions evasions plan.

Analysis: Rocco's not going to let the jury forget what he contends is a wild over-promise by the prosecution as to what the evidence showed.

Rocco: "Did Reza Zarrab need someone to teach him how to cheat?"

Also asks if Zarrab needed help with falsifying documents.

Rocco: Zarrab in China trying to bribe his way in commercial actions there.

"He didn't have Mr. Atilla in his back pocket" then, he says.

Rocco describes Zarrab's philosophy as: "If I don't have you, I can buy you."

"Go around them, go above them, go to his boss," he continues.

Rocco says Zarrab "bought" Suleyman Aslan.

Alsan was Zarrab's "Mr. Fix-It" man, Rocco says.

Rocco on Zarrab's relationship with Aslan: "Who did he go to constantly? Who did he go to endlessly? Who did he go to without reprieve?"

They were like two young lovers," Rocco quips.

Rocco: "Who does Reza Zarrab go to? He goes to the guy he bought. He goes directly to Suleyman Aslan."

Reminder: Aslan is under indictment and still at large.

Rocco just threw him under the bus. justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/f…

Rocco mocks Zarrab's courtroom demeanor: "polite, cautious"

On the phone, however, Rocco notes that Zarrab is "rude" and a "bully"

Rocco: "He will talk over people and through people and insist that they talk about what he wants to talk about."

Rocco: A year into Zarrab's pretrial jail, Atilla goes to the United States.

"And the rest is, as they say, history," Rocco says, because Zarrab knows he has "something he can barter with," i.e. Atilla.

Rocco calls Zarrab "the Bernie Madoff of bribes."

I'm sure you all know this: Madoff is perhaps the most famous white collar criminal in the United States, who ran a record breaking Ponzi scheme.

Madoff is currently serving a 150-year sentence in a U.S. prison.

Rocco describes taped conversations with Zarrab and Atilla as brief and to the point, in contrast to other taped calls with Zarrab and others.

Rocco asks what in the evidence would show that Atilla should know about the bogus food scheme.

"There's no reason at all," he adds.

Again, he's attacking "conscious avoidance."

Rocco: "There's no evidence here to suggest that Mr. Atilla was the one to suggest what documents would accompany food transactions."

People at lower levels followed up with proper documentation, not Atilla, he said.

Urging the jury to contextualize the evidence, Rocco asks: Has the government sustained the burden, the high burden that is required under the law: guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?

Rocco explains the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof, as legal principles.

Rocco notes that Atilla waived his right against self-incrimination - the risk in testifying for two days. He says this isn't the "act of a guilty man" but the man who "believes he's innocent and wants to proclaim his innocence to the entire world."

Zarrab was caught by surprise by his arrest, and didn't know about the investigation.

The probe was then public: But Rocco notes that Atilla traveled to the United States anyway, knowing about this investigation.

"That's the act of an innocent man," Rocco said.

Rocco urges the jury to watch the arrest video and examine his demeanor.

"Calm, cool and collected." he says.

Rocco refers to the trip to Barcelona.

Rocco talks about a mix-up between the Hakans. Not his client Hakan Atilla, but Hakan Aydogan.

After painting in broad strokes, Rocco lays out little points of the evidence, like a Seurat painting.

(Sorry about the meme, here: I truly mean this one as instructive about the art reference that I am making here. Lots of little dots that complete a larger picture.)

Rocco refers to the remark about "the method" invoked by prosecutors, which he notes sounds "sinister," but Rocco claims to be innocuous.

"That's not a sinister method," Rocco says, adding that there's "nothing illegal" about it, in the context that he said.

As to the details Rocco laid out: Too tricky to live-tweet.

Moves onto OFAC.

Rocco attacks Szubin's "pull-aside" testimony: a memo and a State Dept. cable made no reference to it, Rocco says.

Rocco calls it implausible that OFAC didn't note in their memos that they told Halkbank's manager that they were about to pull the trigger on a sanctions action.

Rocco: "Mr. Szubin didn't document the 'pull-aside.' Mr. Szubin didn't go to anybody in the Turkish government and say, 'We have a problem, here.'"

"Stern warnings may be in the eye of the beholder," Rocco says, putting a new spin on an old saying about beauty.

Rocco: "If this really happened... wouldn't that be documented? Wouldn't it be meticulously documented? ... This is serious stuff."

Side note: I have been told someone translating Atilla tweets has reported that the account has been hacked on Twitter.

When this happened to a NYT reporter weeks ago, the hackers imitated trusted accounts and sent bad links from it. Do not click.

Back to the trial.

One more thing: This advice is meant for journalist, but is useful to everyone. freedom.press/training/email…

* journalists.

Rocco loops back to Atilla's testimony.

Rocco: Why would Hakan Atilla take a 22-year career and throw it into the garbage?

Rocco: The lynchpin is motive.

And Rocco says that Atilla does not have it.

Rocco quotes Daniel Webster: "Justice is man's greatest enterprise on earth."

"It truly is," Rocco said. "On Hakan Atilla's behalf, I'm asking each and every one of you to look closely at the evidence, all the evidence."

Rocco asks the jurors to "scrutinize" this evidence "under the brightest of all lights."

Rocco asks the jury that they send Atilla, "this pawn in a cosmic game of chess to return to his wife and son to his home in Turkey."

End of defense summation.

Short break.

Prosecution's rebuttal summations riffing on "reasonable doubt."

"We embrace that burden. It is ours to prove to you."

Side note: Prosecutors always say this, down to the word embrace.

The reasonable doubt burden, he says, is not "mystical" or "magical."

AUSA (Sidhardha Kamaraju): "They can't get their story straight because you can't fake the truth."

AUSA: "At Halkbank, Hakan Atilla was a powerful man."

AUSA attacks defense that Halkbank had 13 general managers.

That means he is one of the 13 most powerful people at the bank, the prosecutor says.

AUSA: They put him in a very important job.

A position "to protect the bank's lifeblood," doing tasks the bank's ability "to survive."

AUSA calls Atilla Halkbank's "fixer."

AUSA: When it was Reza Zarrab -- and we'll talk about Reza Zarrab -- when Reza Zarrab has an issue, call Hakan Atilla.

AUSA attacks Rocco's "acts of an innocent man" remarks about flying to the United States.

He says, "That's not what Hakan Atilla said."

He said that people at Halkbank checked out Zarrab's indictment. "They checked if the coast was clear," the AUSA said.

In case this isn't clear, AUSA is shorthand for "Assistant U.S. Attorney."

AUSA notes that Atilla dared the FBI, saying "do your best" because his arrest would cause an international incident.

He says Atilla went to the United States "because he thought he was too big to jail, and he was wrong."

In case that reference wasn't nice and loud in Turkey, search "Eric Holder" and "Too big to jail" -- the scandal of big bankers here escaping prosecution for serial fraud.

Spoiler alert: The people who caused the 2007-08 international financial crisis didn't go to jail here.

AUSA attacks the "Reza Zarrab show" remarks.

AUSA: "Reza Zarrab was the system, and Hakan Atilla was the method."

AUSA claims that Zarrab was replaceable but Atilla was indispensable.

AUSA notes that the defense summation focused on Reza Zarrab.

He mocks the defense tactic of painting the evidence as "some Gulenist plot."

AUSA notes that defense abandoned its "Gulenist plot" line of argument during its closings, which a different attorney (Todd Harrison) floated during the testimony of ex-Istanbul cop Huseyin Korkmaz.

AUSA argues that Zarrab could have incriminated Atilla much more, but didn't.

"These are events happening across an ocean in Turkey with shoeboxes filed with cash," AUSA said.

Zarrab could have said that he bribed Atilla, but he didn't.

Paradoxically, AUSA argues that's exactly why Zarrab's testimony could be trusted.

AUSA: "To believe Hakan Atilla's story is to believe that" Adam Szubin and David Cohen deliberately perjured themselves to frame Atilla.

He says that makes no sense.

AUSA says Atilla made a choice, and now the jury needs to make one.

"We submit that there's only one right choice, and that is that Hakan Atilla is guilty as charged beyond a reasonable doubt," AUSA said, with a finger pointed at Atilla.

Berman discharges the jury with the usual speech.

Tells them not to read news coverage, implicitly including tweets.

"See you tomorrow morning," he says. "Thanks a lot."

Deliberations will start then.

İyi geceler, görüşürüz, ve güle güle.

I need to write, needed to for awhile actually, but there was never any respite for me to do so.

Good night, all, and I'll see you tomorrow. See you, bye bye.

UPDATE: In the final day before jury deliberations, prosecutors depicted Halkbank manager Mehmet Hakan Atilla as proof bankers aren't "too big to jail," while Atilla's attorney called his client a "cosmic pawn," his case an episode of the "Twilight Zone." courthousenews.com/bankers-beware…

* Got the quote right in the story, wrong on the above tweet: It's "pawn in a cosmic game of chess.”