But then, in July, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it was dropping all charges against Terlemez—who had left NATO to found a well-connected Turkish defense company—and he was freed. We don’t have any direct evidence that the decision was politically motivated, but the timing struck observers as suspicious. The Justice Department action came just two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a NATO summit in The Hague.
In May, a man named Ismail Terlemez was arrested in Belgium as the result of a corruption probe run by agents from the FBI and the U.S. Defense Department’s investigative arm. The indictment alleged that Terlemez, who worked in NATO’s procurement office in Brussels, had received bribes from a co-conspirator in 2019 and 2020 as part of a scheme to rig the bidding for NATO contracts. The investigators were sure that they had Terlemez, a Turkish citizen, dead to rights.
In May, a man named Ismail Terlemez was arrested in Belgium as the result of a corruption probe run by agents from the FBI and the U.S. Defense Department’s investigative arm. The indictment alleged that Terlemez, who worked in NATO’s procurement office in Brussels, had received bribes from a co-conspirator in 2019 and 2020 as part of a scheme to rig the bidding for NATO contracts. The investigators were sure that they had Terlemez, a Turkish citizen, dead to rights.
But then, in July, the U.S.
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