ANKARA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a diplomatic note to the United States Embassy in Ankara on Wednesday asking the whereabouts of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish gold trader who has been charged in New York with conspiring to violate the U.S. sanctions on Iran, a Turkish official told Xinhua.
The note stressed that Turkey is concerned about the life of Zarrab, according to the official.
U.S. Ministry of Justice's Federal Jailhouse Bureau website said that Zarrab was released from prison on Nov. 8, yet his lawyer refuted the claim.
His lawyer Seyda Yildirim, however, told daily Hurriyet that they were not able to get any information about Zarrab for five days. They might changed the place of him, she added.
Yet, U.S. media recently suggested that there were indications that Zarrab may be prepared to plead guilty.
Zarrab, has dual Turkish-Iranian citizenship, was arrested on March 21 last year when he arrived in the United States.
Prosecutors charged him with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and help Iranian authorities conduct hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of financial transactions through Turkish banks.
