Adam KlasfeldVarmennettu tili

After meeting with the general manager, Zarrab testifies, he was able to get an Aktif Bank account.

Zarrab: Account started with 5 to 10 million Euros

(That was the volume of transactions per day.)

Zarrab now testifying about his meeting with the Central Bank of Iran.

Q: Were you able to ultimately reach an agreement to provide financial services to the Central Bank of Iran? Zarrab: Yes, sir.

Zarrab is now testifying about his connection to former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

Anyone recognize the name Sharouf Najev Sadeh (sp?) - CEO of Melat Exchange?

Will have more on that name later. Testimony turned to how Iranian exchange offices work.

Zarrab says he met with Sarmayeh Bank (also Iranian) representative Mohammed Reza Rejai (sp?) in Azerbaijan in either 2010 and 2011. Zarrab said he didn't work with him at this point.

A side note: Thank you to all of my followers giving me tips, leads and backgrounds. Very helpful so please keep it up.

Zarrab describes his falling out with Aktifbank. Zarrab: “Aktifbank was working directly with the Iranians and I was eliminated.” Q: Was Aktifbank as a significant part of your income? A: Absolutely, yes.

Testimony turns to Zarrab's relationship with Halkbank.

Zarrab said that this began in 2012, though his connections started earlier, he says.

I need more help with the name: This time of a Turkish jeweler: Ahmed Alajaji (Can anyone confirm the spelling?). Zarrab says this man proposed the gold-exportation system of putting Iranian proceeds in Halkbank.

Zarrab: “Because my wife was a famous artist in Turkey, I was a person who was in the public eye all the time.”

He mentioned his famous wife Ebru Gundes as the reason why bank manager Suleyman Aslan wouldn't work with him: Zarrab says he was too visible for Aslan.

So Zarrab says he reached out to Turkish economic minister Zafer Çağlayan: Q: Why did you contact [Zafer Çağlayan] after Aslan turned you down? A: Because he was the economy minister of the Republic of Turkey.

Just a quick note: The reason I'm not tweeting right now is that Zarrab is reading from an exhibit of what he paid to Zafer Çağlayan at Halkbank. The testimony is math. Upshot coming up.

Zarrab: "I am thinking that I paid bribe [to Çağlayan] in the amount of 45 to 50 million euros."

And with that whopper, time to eat everyone. Lunch break.

Zarrab is back on the witness stand. Testimony is about to get started again soon.

I notice folks getting a bit impatient. "Soon" is a relative term. Zarrab's still sitting there. Standby.

And we're off.

Q: What form did those payments [to Caglayan] take? A: In cash, in valuable items, and in bank-wire transfers. Q: Any to Caglayan’s family? A: There were sir.

Prosecutor wants to introduce an alleged bank receipt Caglayan's sibling for more than 2.4 million in Turkish lira from profit on the Iranian trade into evidence. Defense objects as hearsay. Judge Berman allows.

Testimony turns to NIOC -- National Iranian Oil Company

Zarrab is testifying about a "front company" for NIOC that sounds like it's called NICU... anyone recognize?

Zarrab is about to diagram how a gold trade works on a poster board. He stepped off the witness stand to draw it.

(Note: I don't know if this visual will become available to the press. Will inquire and if so, tweet it out.)

Crowdsourcing help need needed with names of two more companies that Zarrab said are tied to Halkbank: They sound like "Tukresh" and "Botosh"