11 months (from January 7, 2010, to December 1, 2010) Banki was held in high and maximum-security detention centers in Manhattan and Brooklyn (MCC and MDC). For December 2010 Banki was transferred to the Taft Correctional Institution's deportation prison outside Bakersfield in California. In January 2011 Banki was transferred to the lower-security Taft prison, where he remained pending the appellate decision. Upon release Banki had served 665 days, nearly 22 months in prison. Appellate reversal On October 24, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of Banki and reversed the sanctions charges against him. Judge Keenan's court ordered Banki's release on November 2, 2011. The Appellate court ruled that Judge John F. Keenan had erred at trial in denying Banki's defense's request to instruct the jury on the law that specifically exempts family money as an exception to the sanctions law, permitting such transfers without the need for a license: "However, U.S. depository institutions are permitted to handle funds transfers, through intermediary third-country banks, to or from Iran or for the direct or indirect benefit of the Government of Iran or a person in Iran, arising from several types of underlying transactions, including: a) a noncommercial family remittance; b) an exportation to Iran or importation from Iran of information and informational materials; c) a travel-related remittance; d) a payment for the shipment of a donation of articles to relieve human suffering; or e) a transaction authorized by OFAC through a specific or general license.". The final appellate court brief stated: "Banki's conviction [on the sanctions charges] cannot stand". Prosecutors reopened the case, seeking a retrial in February 2012. However, after a few months of delay and assignment of a new judge, the case was closed criminally with no option for future civil or criminal prosecution. Rather than pay for the high cost of a second criminal defense trial, Banki agreed to relinquish $710,000 of his assets. In exchange, prosecutors agreed without going through a second trial that Banki was not guilty of the sanctions charges, and that they would not pursue the criminal or civil cases further. The case was permanently closed on July 24, 2012, with the final word being the success of Banki's appeal, finding that he was not guilty of the sanctions charges for which he had been arrested imprisoned for 22 months. In the final court hearing Banki's prison