(Ken Silva, Headline USA) American victims of terrorist attacks have sued the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland for allegedly diverting money that was meant for them.
According to the lawsuit filed last month in federal court, the Victims Act requires funds from certain DOJ cases to be deposited in a fund for terrorist victims. One such DOJ case where this should have happened was against the cryptocurrency firm Binance. Last November, Binance agreed to pay the DOJ more than $2.5 billion as part of a plea deal to settle charges that the company violated U.S. sanctions, as well as laws prohibiting money laundering and terrorist financing.
In May, the DOJ said it would deposit nearly $900,000,000 into the victims fund, but it would direct another $1.5 billion for other purposes—which the terrorist victims said is against the law.
“DOJ stated [in May] that, even though the entire case involved ‘an extensive scheme to operate as a U.S. financial institution while disregarding U.S. law,’ the amount of $1,505,475,575, representing payment for the Criminal Fine, would be directed to a different fund, not the Victims Fund,” the victims said in their Sept. 23 lawsuit.
“DOJ offered no explanation as to why it was not directing this amount— which it expressly acknowledged was derived from a ‘related criminal conspiracy [or] scheme’ to the IEEPA violation—to be deposited into the Victims Fund, as the Victims Act required.”
The victims argued that the DOJ has no authority to decide where the Binance funds should be deposited. By not putting the money into the victims fund, the DOJ is harming terrorist victims and their families, the lawsuit argued.
Victims in the lawsuit include several people injured in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, including Michael Grover Coe, who was serving as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps when he was injured there.
Along with victims, one plaintiff includes the daughter of Richard Twine, who was serving in the U.S. Army when he was killed in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
“Ms. Twine was only 14 when her father was killed. When she opened the door that morning to a police officer and an Army official, she knew immediately what it meant. Losing her father at such a young age left Ms. Twine feeling depressed and withdrawn, and severely impacted her personal relationships,” the lawsuit said. “She has continued to struggle with bouts of intense sadness and withdrawal ever since her father’s murder.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
