By Stewart Bishop

Law360, New York (March 5, 2020, 2:23 PM EST) -- The New York trial of an Iranian national and former chairman of a Maltese bank accused of funneling $115 million through the U.S. financial system in violation of U.S. sanctions on Iran was interrupted Thursday morning after it was revealed that a member of the jury pool had potentially been exposed to the new coronavirus.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan said the juror in question, who was dismissed from service during the jury selection process on Monday, had been notified by health authorities that they had attended the same temple on the same day as someone who had been diagnosed with COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus that first appeared in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

The news came in the middle of the trial of Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, 40, who is accused of using front companies in Turkey and Switzerland to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran and launder profits from a $476 million deal to build 7,000 housing units in Venezuela.

Around 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Judge Nathan sent the jury out for an early lunch, before telling attorneys they needed to switch courtrooms so her usual courtroom could be disinfected and cleaned as a precautionary measure.

"The person has shown no signs or symptoms and has not tested positive," Judge Nathan said. "We are in a good situation in that sense."

The potential juror has been asked to self-quarantine, she said.

Judge Nathan later informed the jury of the situation outside of open court, and said the panel seemed to take the news in stride.

The district executive for the Southern District of New York, Edward Friedland, told Law360 his office had been notified of the situation by the now-dismissed juror sometime on Thursday morning. He noted that the potential juror said they hadn't come into direct contact with anyone infected with COVID-19, but had only been in the same room.

Friedland said the Southern District had already been taking measures to mitigate potential exposure to the coronavirus, including installing more hand-sanitizing stations and instituting extra cleaning of things like turnstiles, water fountains and elevator buttons that the public frequently comes into contact with.

"These are strictly precautionary steps," Friedland said.

Sadr is facing charges of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He has pled not guilty.

Prosecutors say the Stratus Group, controlled by Sadr's father Mohammad Sadr Hashemi Nejad, in 2006 incorporated the Iranian International Housing Corp., which contracted with a unit of a Venezuelan state-owned energy company to build the infrastructure project in exchange for nearly half a billion U.S. dollars. The money was sent through the U.S. banking system, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say Sadr took steps to hide the Iranian footprint on the deal. In order to hide the payments they were receiving for the project, authorities say Sadr and his father used Saint Kitts and Nevis passports and a Dubai address to set up the Swiss and Turkish companies to receive the U.S. funds on behalf of the IIHC.

Sadr's attorneys maintain that none of the profits from the Venezuelan venture went to Iran, and that Sadr never thought his role in the massive Venezuelan construction project could have possibly violated U.S. sanctions.

The government is expected to rest its case on Monday, and closing arguments could come as soon as next week.

Sadr was formerly the chairman of Maltese bank Pilatus Bank. Shortly after his arrest in March 2018, Malta's financial services regulator ordered his immediate removal as head of the lender and appointed a caretaker to take charge of the bank's assets and business, barring Sadr and other bank bosses from making any transactions or withdrawals.

The European Central Bank later that year withdrew the Maltese bank's license after the lender became embroiled in a money-laundering scandal in which it was accused of funneling money to high-risk countries.

The government is represented by Jane Kim, Michael Krouse and Stephanie Lake of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, as well as Garrett Lynch of the New York County District Attorney's Office.

Sadr is represented by Reid Weingarten, Brian M. Heberlig, Bruce C. Bishop and Nicholas P. Silverman of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

The case is U.S. v. Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, case number 1:18-cr-00224 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

--Editing by Katherine Rautenberg and Michael Watanabe.

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