By Luc Cohen

(Reuters) -The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear another bid by Turkey’s state-owned lender Halkbank to avoid fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade American economic sanctions.

The justices turned away Halkbank’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that let the criminal case brought by the U.S. government proceed, allowing that decision to stand. The Supreme Court in 2023 threw out a previous decision by the same lower court that had permitted the case to move forward but at that time rejected a key defense mounted by the bank.

Brought by U.S. federal prosecutors in 2019, the case has been a thorn in U.S.-Turkey relations, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan calling it an “unlawful, ugly” step.

Halkbank h

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