Trial aims to explain how a polygamist used alleged Armenian gangster to launder biofuel $ to Turkey

Trial aims to explain how a Utah polygamist used an alleged Armenian gangster to launder biofuel money to Turkey


The possible witness list for the trial of Lev Aslan Dermen includes the Utah polygamist prosecutors say the defendant both conspired with and extorted, the businessman who laundered money to a Turkish airline and a pharmaceutical company, the guitarist for a 1990s Irish rock band, a crooked cop alleged to have worked for Dermen, and a man said to have also extorted the polygamist.

Maybe that’s why the trial, which has been delayed to Nov. 4 and could be pushed to next year, is scheduled to last for six weeks in Salt Lake City’s federal court.

Jurors are likely to hear about the president of Turkey, a corrupt U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, luxury homes and vehicles, a character named “Grandpa,” another known as “Commissioner Gordon,” below-standard gasoline that was sold to drivers in Southern California, and a Utah biofuel company that participated in a $511 million fraud that spanned both U.S. coasts, down to Central America and across the ocean to Istanbul.

The proceedings could imprison the 53-year-old Dermen for life if the jury finds him guilty of the 10 counts in an indictment centered on conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. Jury selection was supposed to have begun last week, but the trial has been delayed as lawyers continue to argue over what evidence will be admitted.

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/10/12/trial-aims-explain-how/
(Salt Lake Tribune)