Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, the owner of SBK Holding, took part in the indictment in the case where the Kingston brothers and Lev Aslan Dermen (Levon Termendzhyan) were tried in the Utah Federal Court in the USA, and his statement was also taken by the prosecution as a witness. Claiming that they are producing biodiesel, the Kingston brothers defrauded the American federal government for 511 million dollars, and it was claimed that some of the money was tried to be laundered in Turkey through Korkmaz and SBK Holding, which he owns. Korkmaz, who was a witness in the case file until 2020, became a defendant in the federal lawsuit filed in the USA in 2021.
In June 2021, Korkmaz went to Switzerland from Turkey. Korkmaz, who passed from Switzerland to Austria, was arrested in Austria. Korkmaz’s lawyer, Mehmet Demir, said that his client was arrested in Austria at the request of the United States. Lawyer Demir claimed that Turkey also has a request for the extradition of his client, but that the judicial process will continue in Austria. It has been announced that Turkey has made an official application for the extradition of Korkmaz, who is in Austria.
In June 2021, another development took place in the US state of Utah. The list of many properties and miscellaneous investments that Korkmaz laundered money, bought with money transferred from America to Turkey, and various investments he made, has been added to the ongoing case file of the Kingston brothers and Lev Aslan Dermen by the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
Utah District Court Judge Jill N. Parish, where the case was heard, was informed by the attorney general’s office on June 10, 2021, where Lev Aslan Dermen, who was convicted by a jury of money laundering in the United States, laundered the money he obtained by defrauding the American Taxation Office (IRS), and the federal government’s seizure. He asked for a list of the assets he wanted to put in and the money transferred.
“The properties in Turkey that Korkmaz owned with black money should be confiscated”
On June 17, 2021, Utah State Attorney General Andrea T. Martinez published the list of assets of Lev Aslan Dermen and Sezgin Baran Korkmaz to be confiscated through the electronic transaction system of the Ministry of Justice. In the 7-page list, it was noted that all the assets of SBK USA Inc, of which Dermen and Korkmaz were partners in the USA, should be confiscated.
In the petition submitted to the court judge, it was stated that all the properties in the list published by the prosecutor’s office were obtained by money laundering, and that they were ready to prove all their claims in the hearing to be held regarding the transfer of the assets of the prosecutor’s office to the American treasury. In the petition submitted by the Attorney General’s Office to the court, the list of assets belonging to Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, which are seized and requested to be transferred to the American treasury, is as follows:
– Kervansaray Hotel in Bodrum Torba
– Bombardier Global aircraft belonging to SBK with tail number TC YYA
– All assets of Mega Asset Management AŞ
– The ‘Queen Anne’ yacht registered in the Cook Islands owned by SBK
– All assets of the SBK company Isanne SARL in Luxembourg
– Six plots in Turkey owned by Setap Teknoloji and Blane Teknoloji:
– Istanbul