Terror victims sue Swiss bank with Iran ties
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
WASHINGTON — American victims of the Hizbullah war against Israel in 2006 have sued a Swiss bank that lent money to Iran.
A group of Americans have filed a suit in federal district court in New York against Switzerland's UBS AG, with a branch in the U.S. city. The plaintiffs were Americans whose relatives were killed or injured in what they asserted were Iranian-backed attacks.
"UBS knew full well that the cash dollars it was providing to a state sponsor of terrorism such as Iran would be used to cause and facilitate terrorist attacks by Iranian-sponsored terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hizbullah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad," attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said.
The suit, filed on Monday, charged that UBS loans to Iran helped its proxies facilitate strikes against Israel. Three of the plaintiffs were identified as part of families harmed by Hizbullah rocket attacks in northern Israel in July and August 2006.
This marked the first civil action brought by American victims of Hizbullah's Katyusha rocket strikes. Ms. Darshan-Leitner, based in Tel Aviv, and Robert Tolchin from New York have been representing the plaintiffs in their quest for compensation from UBS.
The suit charges that UBS sought to transfer funds to Cuba, Iran and Libya. A U.S. Federal Reserve investigation determined that UBS was responsible for illegally transferring $4-$5 billion to states designated by the United States as terrorist sponsors.
The UBS transfers were said to have taken place between 1996 and 2004. UBS finally admitted to the charges and was fined $100 million by the Federal Reserve.