Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference in Istanbul, Turkey April 16, 2017. Picture taken April 16, 2017.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly had a secret meeting with Rudy Giuliani former New York mayor and Michael Mukasey, former Attorney General, to represent Istanbul businessman Reza Zarrab, as the man could be a potential bargaining chip in a national security deal with Turkey, Giuliani said in a court filing, reported New York Times late March.

Giuliani was hired recently, along with Michael Mukasey, to represent Zarrab who was accused of conspiring to process hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of financial transactions for Iranian businesses or Iran’s government from 2010 to 2015. Zarrab, 33 was a central player in a massive 2013 corruption and bribery scandal in Turkey, though criminal charges were ultimately dropped. He is a famous personality in Turkey because he is married to Turkish pop star and TV personality Ebru Gundes.

In papers unsealed late Wednesday, Giuliani and Mukasey said they were hired “principally although not exclusively on an effort to determine whether this case can be resolved as part of some agreement between the United States and Turkey that will promote the national security interests of the United States and redound to the benefit of Mr. Zarrab.”

The two lawyers met recently with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after notifying Attorney General Jeff Sessions and federal prosecutors that they planned to settle the case on a “state-to-state basis” to pursue the possibility of an agreement that could promote the security of the United States and resolve the issues in this case,” they wrote.

At a court hearing this month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Lockard expressed concern that the defense lawyers’ efforts were an attempt to make a political end-run around a judicial proceeding. However, Giuliani and Mukasey defended their work, with Mukasey writing that their behind-the-scenes maneuvering was “entirely lawful and not at all unprecedented.”