Families of US soldiers and civilians killed or severely injured in Afghanistan have sued some of the world’s largest banks, including Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, and Danske Bank, alleging that they assisted terrorists in carrying out their attacks. According to reports, 115 Gold Star families or relatives of American military service members killed in the war, as well as relatives of noncombatants, filed a lawsuit on Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, alleging that they “knowingly facilitated transfers of millions” of dollars that provided aid to terrorists in the region.
Transactions involving syndicate agents, operatives, and fronts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the lawsuit, raised red flags that they were dealing with terrorist money.
“The terrorists used defendants’ laundromats to change dirty money into clean money and convert dirty foreign currency into clean US dollars. Defendants knew they were aiding terrorism and yet did so anyway,” they said in the complaint.
Civilians, military personnel, and families of those killed or injured in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2016 are among the complainants. They claim that Americans were targeted by a terrorist network led by al Qaeda and the Haqqani Network, a Taliban extreme faction.
They claim that the banks aided and abetted terrorist attacks against Americans in Afghanistan, as well as a racketeering enterprise involving al Qaeda and the Haqqani Network’s terrorism campaign. The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages in the billions of dollars range.
They filed suit against the banks under the US Anti-Terrorism Act of 1990, which allows victims of terrorism to recover damages. With the passage of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act in 2016, Congress broadened the law. Suits against individuals, organisations, and countries that provide direct or indirect support to terrorists who target the United States are permitted under this act.
The New York Times reports that the complainants believe the banks’ treatment of some of their clients showed that they were aware of how their services were linked to illegal activities.
According to the lawsuit, Deutsche Bank charged higher-than-normal rates to move money around the world for some of its clients, including a Pakistani man the US government had identified as a terrorist money launderer. Altaf Khanani, according to the US government, laundered money for drug traffickers and other criminal organisations.
According to a Buzzfeed News report from last year, Deutsche Bank used a complex series of stock trades in the United States and Russia known as mirror trades to allow Khanani to move money around the world on behalf of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
