Lawsuits target financiers of 9/11 attacks

Lawyers and experts in secrecy and government accountability hold a briefing in Washington on the impact of whistleblower Sibel Edmonds' case before the D.C. Circuit Court and the "trend of excessive government secrecy aimed at avoiding accountability." Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, was fired in 2002 after repeatedly reporting "serious security breaches and misconduct."
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Lawsuits target financiers of 9/11 attacks

By Richard Gazarik
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, April 17, 2005

The case is simply titled, "Burnett, et al., v. Al Baraka Investment and Development Co."
But beyond the brief caption in the files of U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York is a complex, $1 trillion lawsuit aimed at punishing the alleged financiers of this nation's worst terrorist attacks.

A small army of attorneys and law firms representing 500 plaintiffs in the lawsuit hope to prove allegations that banks, charities, businesses and individuals with Saudi connections helped launder money that financed the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and resulted in the crash of a passenger jet in Somerset County on Sept. 11, 2001.

There are also five companion lawsuits against other financial institutions and individuals, including one that names as a defendant Riggs National Bank in Washington, D.C., which is being purchased by PNC Financial Services Corp in Pittsburgh. The lead plaintiff in that case is Allison Vadhan, whose mother, Kristen Gould-White, died in the Flight 93 crash.

Spokesmen for Riggs and PNC did not respond to requests for comment.

The survivors filed suit under the auspices of Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism. The lead plaintiff, Thomas Burnett Sr., of Northfield, Minn., lost his son, Thomas E. Burnett Jr., 37, when hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, killing everyone aboard.

Flight 93 had left Newark, N.J., bound for California, when four hijackers commandeered the craft in the skies over Ohio and steered the plane back east toward Washington, D.C. In a life-and-death struggle, passengers took on the hijackers and tried to regain control before the plane crashed.

Burnett realizes the odds of winning may be against the plaintiffs. But he didn't sue to win money.

"I want fingers pointed. I want accountability. I want to get back at them. I want to fight back. I have great doubt that we'll ever see a dime or bring them to justice," said Burnett, a retired high school teacher.

The complaints were filed in 2003 against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, members of the Saudi Royal Family, the Republic of Sudan, the Saudi Bin Laden Group, seven banks, eight Islamic foundations or charities and individuals, including Osama bin Laden. The lawsuits allege that al-Qaida could not have executed the attacks without financial help because the terrorist group did not have the financial resources.

The lawsuits maintain that the "cash infusion" from Saudi Arabia into "front groups" directly aided the plotters in planning stunning, coordinated attacks using four commercial airliners. The plaintiffs contend that the U.S. government has classified 28 pages of documents from the national report on the terrorist attacks, which they believe could point to a larger Saudi role in the financing of the plot.

The final report by the 9/11 Commission -- minus the 28 pages -- said there was "no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organizations." This does not exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to al-Qaida.

"Still, al-Qaida found fertile fundraising ground in Saudi Arabia, where extreme religious views are common and charitable giving was both essential to the culture and subject to very limited oversight," the report said.

Alan Abney, a White House spokesman, Friday said the pages were withheld from the final report because the Bush administration contends they contain information about ongoing investigations and could harm national security.

Although the families and 9/11 Commission members in February asked the White House to make public the full classified report, Abney said there are no plans by the administration to declassify the documents.

"Nothing's changed on that. The president has addressed that," Abney said.

Not all of the families who lost relatives have joined in the lawsuits.

Families of 1,995 of the 2,973 victims who died on 9/11 have received settlements that average about $1.5 million. In settling, those families gave up the right to sue the airlines, airport security companies and other entities in connection with the hijackings.

In recent months, the families who chose to sue have suffered some setbacks in their legal efforts.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Casey for the Southern District of New York in January dismissed as defendants the government of Saudi Arabia, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, second deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia and Prince Turki al-Faisal Al-Saud, the ambassador to Great Britain and Prince Mohammed al Faisal al Saud because they are foreign leaders and immune from lawsuits. He also dismissed the case against Al Baraka Investment and Development Co.

"We've had some good rulings, we've had some bad rulings in court," said William Doyle, of Staten Island, N.Y., whose son, Joseph, died in the attack upon the World Trade Center. "The biggest problem with 9/11 is there has been no accountability anywhere.

"Our lawyers are digging deeper into the case. The biggest problem they're having at the moment is our country is not being that cooperative in giving information to us."

Carol O'Hare, of Danville, Calif., who lost her mother, Hilda Marcin, in the Flight 93 crash, said the investigation into the attacks has left families with many unanswered questions.

"I wish we would open up and some of those answers would come up in those 28 pages," O'Hare said.

"We know who pulled the trigger," Doyle added. "The U.S. also knows who financed them and refuses to make that information known. Those 28 pages will tell you a lot about the financing. We're all frustrated with the efforts of the U.S. and this administration to classify information that should be known."

The Saudi government also has asked that the United States declassify the pages and make them public.

Attorney Ronald Motley, of South Carolina, represents the families. He declined to comment but said he expects the trial to be held in 2006.

"I don't think it's appropriate to comment," Motley said. "My clients are the best spokesmen."

The families contend that the U.S. Department of Justice has impeded the progress of their lawsuit by invoking a doctrine, known as the state secrets privilege, to prevent a former FBI translator from giving a deposition in their case.

Sibel Edmonds was fired by the bureau in 2003 after she raised allegations that translators were providing erroneous translations of FBI wiretaps and documents. The families subpoenaed Edmonds to testify, but then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said her deposition likely would reveal classified information that would harm U.S. security, according to an affidavit filed with the court.

Edmonds disputes Ashcroft's assertions, saying that some of her work may be relevant to the Burnett case. She said the FBI was spying on Turkish cultural groups who may have helped -- wittingly or unwittingly -- to launder money for Saudis citizens who were connected to terrorists.

"The calls were more about networking with people who were related to Saudi Arabian connections," she said. "The government insisted that almost every single question that the families wished to ask me would require the disclosure of classified information."

Her attorney, Mark Zaid, of Washington, D.C., said some of Edmonds' work for the FBI could be related to 9/11. He said that's what the families' attorneys want to learn through pretrial discovery.

"They wanted to know what she found out about Arabic organizations that may have financially supported 911 terrorists," Zaid said.

Doyle said he has no doubts that Edmonds' testimony and release of the withheld pages is critical to full public understanding -- and accountability -- for the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I believe if those documents came out it would be beneficial to our lawsuit and beneficial to the country," he said.

Richard Gazarik can be reached at rgazarik@tribweb.com or (724) 830-6292.

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U.S. Newswire (press release), DC - Apr 13, 2005
As a preview to the appellate argument in Sibel Edmonds' case, secrecy and legal experts will hold a press briefing on Wednesday, April 20th to address the far ...
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