Sept. 11 Families Join to Sue Saudis: Banks, charities and royals accused of funding al Qaeda terrorist network

Sept. 11 Families Join to Sue Saudis: Banks, charities and royals accused of funding al Qaeda terrorist network



Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Friday, August 16, 2002

Families of 600 people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks filed suit yesterday against Saudi Arabian banks and charities and members of the royal family, accusing them of financially sponsoring the al Qaeda terrorist network and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court here were three Saudi princes, seven banks, the government of Sudan and international charities that the U.S. government has contended are linked to terrorist groups.

Banding together to seek hundreds of billions of dollars in damages, the families asserted in the lawsuit that "terrorists like Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network cannot plan, train and act on a massive scale without significant financial power, coordination and backing. By taking vigorous legal action against the financial sponsors of terror, the plaintiffs will force the sponsors of terror into the light and subject them to the rule of law."

The lawsuit renews the sensitive question of sponsorship of terror by the Saudis that only recently caused friction between the U.S. government and one of its key Middle Eastern allies.

In a controversial briefing to a Pentagon advisory board in July, a Rand Corp. analyst contended that "the Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader." Saudi Arabia was described as an enemy of the United States, in the briefing prepared by Laurent Murawiec.

Pentagon and Bush administration officials quickly distanced themselves from the briefing, insisting that the government does not share that view of the Saudis.

The lawsuit does not allege that the Saudi defendants directly participated in the Sept. 11 attacks, or approved them. That would be a difficult assertion to support because bin Laden, who was banished from the Saudi kingdom in 1991, has declared war on Saudi leaders as well as the United States.

Instead, the plaintiffs contend that some of the leading figures in Saudi society -- top businessmen, charity executives and members of the royal family -- gave money to foundations and front groups that sustained al Qaeda and moved its money.

Officials at the Saudi Embassy did not return telephone calls seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Some families of Sept. 11 victims have split off from this lawsuit in a dispute with the lawyers as a result of what they contend was an unauthorized overture aimed at settlement. About 80 families intend to file a similar suit with new counsel, said Stephen Push, one of those family members, though he said he expects the cases to be consolidated.

In seeking damages for the wrongful deaths of people who perished at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field where United Flight 93 went down, the families are following a strategy previously employed by one of their attorneys against the Libyan government.

Allan Gerson of Washington also represents relatives of passengers who died on Pan Am 103, the aircraft downed by terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. Gerson is in negotiations with the Libyans, who have tentatively agreed to pay $2.7 billion for its role in the 1988 bombing.

His co-counsel, Ronald Motley, is a prominent South Carolina lawyer who successfully sued tobacco companies for $300 billion on behalf of attorneys general in 36 states.

"This, I think, will be the trial of the century," Gerson said. "Saudi Arabia and others have been involved in a protection racket for many years. The function of the lawsuit is to expose this and to seek damages, not only for its own sake but to serve as a deterrent."

Matt Sellitto, whose 23-year-old son, Matthew, a broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, died in the World Trade Center, said yesterday that "we have to stop the terrorists, and one of the surest ways of stopping them is stopping their access to money.

"I really believe if we didn't do this, there would be something wrong with us," said Sellitto, who lives in Harding Township, N.J. "My son was murdered because he was living the American dream. We have to take every means we can to stop this thing."

Members of the Saudi royal family named in the suit include Prince Turki al-Faisal, former chief of Saudi intelligence; Prince Sultan, Saudi defense minister and a brother of King Fahd; and Mohammed al Faisal al Saud.

Also named as defendants are major financial entities in Saudi Arabia, including the al-Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp., which the plaintiffs contend is the primary bank for a number of charities that funnel money to terrorists.

The suit also alleges that Khalid bin Mahfouz, onetime chief operating officer of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, later operated a bank that funneled millions of dollars to charities controlled by al Qaeda.

The 259-page court filing relies, in part, on assertions by officials of the Treasury and State departments, along with statements from foreign governments. Many of the assertions about the role of the charities and banks, in particular, have been made public before. Some of the new accusations in the lawsuit are based on a variety of sources, including bank records and unpublished intelligence memos from the French government.

The charitable groups include the International Islamic Relief Organization, Sanabel Al Kheer Inc., the Muslim World League, the SAAR Foundation, Rabita Trust, al Haramain Islamic Foundation, Benevolence International Foundation and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth.

The Treasury Department has previously stated that al Haramain has a financial link to al Qaeda. Since Sept. 11, the government has raided or seized the assets of several Muslim charities operating in the United States, including the now-defunct SAAR Foundation in Herndon and Benevolence International of Chicago.

The suit asserts that the world's largest Muslim charity, the Saudi-financed Muslim World League, was formerly funded by bin Laden. It also claims that a League subsidiary, the International Islamic Relief Organization, donated more than $60 million to Afghanistan's Taliban regime.

Staff writers John Mintz and Douglas Farah contributed to this report.