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Sanctions Civil Suits Could Expand Legal Claims of Terror Victims
By Colby Adams
printA pair of civil complaints relying on a Colombian insurgent group's ties to Hezbollah could prompt a rise in similar lawsuits and related subpoenas sent to banks, according to legal experts. The plaintiffs in both cases argue that the Lebanese militant organization has been instrumental to the drug trafficking operations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and that the relationship of the two groups allows them to invoke an American law subjecting frozen terrorist funds to civil litigation. Although the United States has deemed FARC a "foreign terrorist organization" since 1997, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of...
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For an indication of how difficult it can be to identify terrorism funding, even for federal investigators, read the previously-classified 28 pages of a congressional report on the Sept. 11 attacks.
A decision by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirming sanctions against Jordan's largest bank for not turning over data on suspicious accounts could leave some financial institutions with an unwanted choice, say attorneys.
An opinion by New York State's highest court could reanimate lawsuits against foreign banks alleged to have maintained accounts for blacklisted terrorist groups, even when the institutions have no physical U.S. presence.
A ruling by a U.S. District Court dismissing a case against a Jordanian bank accused of supporting Hamas won't likely resolve whether banks are liable for the terrorist actions of clients they no longer serve.
The dismissal last month of a $500 million civil lawsuit against UBS AG for allegedly contributing to terrorist attacks won't impact rulings on similar lawsuits against other banks, say analysts.
The number of lawsuits against banks accused of providing financial services to designated terrorist groups may increase by more than fourfold this year, say terrorism analysts and attorneys.
A group of 90 American, Israeli and Canadian citizens are suing American Express Bank and Lebanese Canadian Bank for $650 million, alleging the institutions provided financial services to blacklisted terror group Hizbollah.
Four Canadians are suing the Montreal branch of Lebanese-Canadian Bank, alleging that the institution knowingly provided financial services to Hizbollah, an organization blacklisted internationally for terrorism.
Israeli lawyer Itsana Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who represents victims of terrorism in lawsuits against banks, spoke recently with Fortent Inform reporter Brian Orsak about the suits and what banks should be doing to better monitor for terrorists attempting to exploit the financial system.
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