U.S. Courts Have Ruled Against The 'Arab Bank' Finding Them Liable For Financially Supporting Terrorism

Arab Bank Liable For Supporting Terrorist Efforts, Jury Finds -- New York Times

A federal jury on Monday found Arab Bank liable for knowingly supporting terrorism efforts connected to two dozen attacks in the Middle East, the first time a bank has ever been held liable in a civil suit under a broad antiterrorism statute.

Arab Bank, a major Middle Eastern bank with $46 billion in assets, was accused of knowingly supporting specific terrorist acts in and around Israel during the second Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.

The verdict is expected to have a strong impact on similar legal efforts to hold financial institutions responsible for wrongdoing by their clients, even if the institutions followed banking rules, and could be seen as a deterrent for banks that conduct business in violent areas.

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More News On The U.S. Courts Ruling Against The 'Arab Bank' By Finding Them Liable For Financially Supporting Terrorism

Arab Bank Found Liable for Hamas Terrorist Attacks -- Bloomberg
Arab Bank found liable for supporting Hamas and must compensate victims -- The Guardian
Arab Bank liable over Hamas attacks -U.S. jury -- Reuters
Arab Bank Found Liable for Providing Assistance to Hamas -- WSJ
US Jury: Arab Bank Liable Over Hamas Attacks -- VOA
Arab Bank found liable by US court in Hamas attacks -- BBC
Breaking: Arab Bank Found Liable for Funding Hamas Terror -- The Tower
US jury finds Arab Bank liable for backing terrorism -- AFP
Jury Holds Arab Bank Liable For Aiding Hamas Terrorists -- Forbes

My Comment: This is going to hurt the Arab Bank and will serve as a warning to other financial institutions that there are consequences for knowingly providing a a financially based support mechanism for those who support terrorism. The ramifications of this ruling will be profound.

The Move To Punish Banks That Handle The Money Of Designated Terror Groups Is Gaining Support

Arab Bank in Jordan. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Terrorism Trial Of Mideast Bank Worries The Financial World -- New York Times

The judge called it the Beirut account.

It was a basic bank account at Arab Bank’s Al-Mazra branch in Beirut, Lebanon, unremarkable except for the name on the account: Osama Hamdan, a spokesman for the terrorist group Hamas.

For the six years Mr. Hamdan maintained the account, at least three wire transfers sent to it were earmarked for Hamas, transactions that officials at Arab Bank vetted and initialed, the plaintiffs say.

Now, the Beirut account is at the center of a trial in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where the plaintiffs say the case will shed light on the shadowy and interconnected network that finances terrorists.

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Update: The snaky path of how terrorists raise money -- Jerusalem Post

My Comment: The solution for these banks is simple .... do not do business with terror groups like Hamas.

Radical Islamic Groups Are Still Being Financed By A Complicit Global Financial Network

Former Kuwaiti Minister of Justice, Islamic endowments and Islamic Affairs Nayef al-Ajmi speaks at a session of Kuwait's National Assembly. Ajmi resigned in the wake of accusations by a senior U.S. official that he was enabling terrorism.

Islamist Insurgency Fueled by Global Finance Web -- Jeffrey Young, VOA

The little cans were at cash registers everywhere in Kuwait, where I lived during much of the 1990s. Covered with pictures of children in anguish amid burning rubble, these cans collected coins and cash for “Palestinian Relief” or the like. Sometimes, I put my change into these cans, causing the person behind the counter to often give me a puzzled look. Then, I learned from my Kuwaiti friends that these collection cans were not always helping those kids – many were funding Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and other violent groups.

Now, 20 years later, there is an international web of finance that leads to deadly insurgents such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Part of it runs through so-called “charities,” while another funding stream for terrorists is enabled by official complicity. And, these sources also intersect.

Colin Clarke, author of an upcoming book titled “Terrorism Inc: The Funding of Terrorism, Insurgency, and Irregular Warfare” says much of the cash now pouring into ISIL and other violent groups comes from three regional sources.

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My Comment: The part of this story that gets me mad is that Western/Saudi/Kuwaiti/Qatari/etc. intelligence agencies know who is giving the money to these terror groups. Edward Snowden's NSA revelations have shown the far reaching capabilities of intelligence agencies to monitor and track money and communications .... but even with this capability .... it appears that no one wants to go to the next step to stop those who enable terrorism.

The Role That Cigarette Smuggling Has In Funding Islamist Violence In Africa

Source: UNODC 2009. Credit: Observer graphics

How Cigarette Smuggling Fuels Africa's Islamist Violence -- The Guardian

Contrabrand tobacco is a $1bn trade in north Africa, run by extremists including Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who masterminded the attack on the Algerian gas plant. The trade is highly profitable – and very low risk

For many years Mokhtar Belmokhtar was little more than a footnote in the intelligence reports analysing the increasingly muscular presence of Islamist groups in Saharan Africa.

The man whose al-Qaida-inspired Signed in Blood Battalion led the attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria, in which at least 38 people were killed, was considered a relatively unimportant figure in the political ecosystem of the vast region. But Belmokhtar, who fought for the mujahideen in Afghanistan and the Islamist GIA in the Algerian civil war before becoming a commander in the Mali-based al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was ambitious.

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My Comment: Cigarette smuggling is big business .... I should know because I live across the river from the Indian reservation of Kahnawake, and they have been involved in the illegal cigarette trade for decades. To say that hundreds of millions of dollars are involved each year is an understatement. I myself was approached years ago to get involved in this trade because of my Chinese contacts .... I refused for the simple that I have zero desire to have the RCMP at my door.

In Africa .... I suspect that the numbers run in the multi-billions .... and the Guardian article raises a legitimate question .... what role do the global cigarette companies have in this trade, and are they (with eyes closed shut) helpng to nurture this trade by not asking the obvious hard questions of who is handling the distribution of their cigarettes, and where are these cigarettes ending up..

Choking Al Qaeda's Money Supply

Security Brief: The 'Urgent' Choking Of Al Qaeda's Money Supply -- CNN

Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part blog series on terrorist finances. In Part 1 we'll look at al Qaeda’s challenging financial situation. In Part 2 we'll examine at the Taliban’s money trail and in Part 3 we'll look at international co-operation (or sometimes the lack-thereof) in tracking terrorist financing. Bookmark our Security Brief section and check back Thursday for Part 2.

The U.S. Treasury Department may not have drones, but don’t underestimate the power of the pen in the battle with al Qaeda. Persistent pressure on the group’s sources of money over the past few years has left it “in significant financial distress,” says US Assistant Treasury Secretary David Cohen. “And we are urgently working to make it worse.”

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My Comment: For all guerrilla, insurgent, and rebel groups .... money is the mother's milk to keep it going. This is a good review from CNN on the importance of money to groups like Al Qaeda .... and is a must read.

Saudis Fail To Halt Terrorism Funding Despite Minor Gains

From Deutsche Welle:

Eight years after the 9/11 attacks on New York, US and European officials say Saudi efforts to stop the flow of funds from Saudi charities and individuals to terrorist groups have improved but failed to halt it.

For the first 18 months after the September 11 attacks, US officials charged that Saudi Arabia, shell-shocked by the fact that a majority of the perpetrators had been Saudi nationals, was dragging its feet on implementing measures to prevent Saudis from funding militant Islamic groups like al Qaeda.

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Previous Post: 1/3 Of Saudis And Egyptians Support Jihad

My Comment: With many supporting Al Qaeda and its ambitions .... it is no surprise that the Saudis have had trouble halting terrorism funding.

Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists

Prince Turki al-Faisal is one of the figures in a dispute over a possible Saudi role in 9/11. Jeremy Bales/Bloomberg New

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Documents gathered by lawyers for the families of Sept. 11 victims provide new evidence of extensive financial support for Al Qaeda and other extremist groups by members of the Saudi royal family, but the material may never find its way into court because of legal and diplomatic obstacles.

The case has put the Obama administration in the middle of a political and legal dispute, with the Justice Department siding with the Saudis in court last month in seeking to kill further legal action. Adding to the intrigue, classified American intelligence documents related to Saudi finances were leaked anonymously to lawyers for the families. The Justice Department had the lawyers’ copies destroyed and now wants to prevent a judge from even looking at the material.

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My Comment: The Saudis do not give money away unless they know exactly where it is going. The Saudi Government knows this. The U.S. Government knows this. And the families of 9/11 know this.

Liabilities will run into the billions .... which is one reason why the Saudi Government is trying to stop this legal process.

Al-Qaida's Money Trouble

From Canada.com:

Tighter monitoring, recession has affected al-Qaida revenues and they are struggling with slump in donations.

LONDON - A recession-driven income slide? Or a brand in terminal decline? Whatever the origin of its money worries, al-Qaida's latest appeal for funds reveals a group struggling with a fall in donations for its attacks on the West.

In an audio message posted in militant web forums on June 10, 2009, the group's leader in Afghanistan Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said militants were short of food, weapons and other supplies needed to fight foreign forces there.

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My Comment: The part of this article that I found interesting was the reference that Al Qaeda's annual budget is about $30 million. Think about it .... $30 million dollars a year and you can get a super power to spend hundreds of billions to try and stamp you out. Wow ....

Fake Internet Drugs Risk Lives And Fund Terrorism, Warns Journal Editor

Fake Internet Drugs Risk Lives And Fund Terrorism, Warns Journal Editor -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2009) — People who buy fake internet drugs could be risking their lives and supporting terrorism, according to an editorial in the February issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

Editor-in-Chief Dr Graham Jackson, a UK-based Consultant Cardiologist, has called for greater public awareness of the dangers and consequences of the counterfeit drugs market, which is expected to be worth £55 billion by 2010.

"Harmful ingredients found in counterfeit medicines include arsenic, boric acid, leaded road paint, floor and shoe polish, talcum powder, chalk and brick dust and nickel" he points out.

"In one scheme, Americans buying fake Viagra on the internet were actually helping to fund Middle East terrorism, unknowingly jeopardising the lives of men and women serving in their own armed forces."

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My Comment: This may not be effective in North America or Europe (because of regulation and laws) , but in third world or Middle Eastern countries, the opportunity to buy drugs cheaply will be appealing .... the fact that they are counterfeit is besides the point.

For terror groups and/or for their sympathizers, this is not only a golden opportunity to steal, but to also have the potential to poison thousands.

Are Western Banks Breaking Sanctions

Lloyds Pays $350M To US In Sanctions Case -- Miami Herald/AP

WASHINGTON -- Lloyds TSB Bank PLC has agreed to forfeit $350 million for helping customers skirt U.S. sanctions on business transactions with Sudan, Iran and Libya.

The bank, headquartered in London, admitted responsibility for criminal conduct under a deferred prosecution deal filed Friday in federal court in Washington.

In announcing the settlement, the Justice Department said that as early as 1995, Lloyds falsified wire transfers involving countries or individuals on U.S. sanctions list.

The bank was accused of deliberately removing customer information - a process Lloyds employees referred to as "stripping" - so that wire transfers would pass undetected through filters at U.S. financial institutions.

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My Comment: This is one bank .... it does not take too much to imagine that other banks are doing the same thing.

Al-Qaida's Budget Slips Through The Cracks

From MSNBC:

U.S. clamps down on banking transactions; terror group finds new funding

Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. intelligence officials believe they've won many small victories against al-Qaida's ability to finance its operations, but they remain unable to put a concrete dollar figure on their impact.

That's because they have no reliable estimate of al-Qaida's overall budget, according to current and former U.S. counterterrorism officials, which means the only measures of the organization's economic health are sporadic, anecdotal and fragmentary.

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My Comment: A fascinating article. In summary .... it does not take much money to cause an incredible amount of damage.

Losing The War Of Terrorism Financing

Juan Zarate, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and William Fox, Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), U.S. Department of Treasury at Washington Foreign Press Center Briefing on "U.S. Efforts in the Financial War on Terrorism." (Photo from the State Department)

Terrorism Financing Blacklists At Risk -- Washington Post

Global System Faces Multiple Challenges

BRUSSELS -- The global blacklisting system for financiers of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups is at risk of collapse, undermined by legal challenges and waning political support in many countries, according to counterterrorism officials in Europe and the United States.

In September, the European Court of Justice threw the future of the United Nations' sanctions program against al-Qaeda and the Taliban into doubt when it declared the blacklist violated the "fundamental rights" of those targeted. The Luxembourg-based court said the list lacked accountability and made it almost impossible for people to challenge their inclusion.

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My Comment: The elimination of the U.S. Patriot Act, cutbacks in military spending (in the next U.S. Administration), the unwillingness of allies to fight in the war against terrorism, supplying and trading with rogue nations like Iran .... I am not feeling safer now.