Lawsuits target financiers of 9/11 attacks

[G_j]

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_324993.html

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.

..more..

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Wilms]

2. Keep the Pressure On n/t

[Frederik]

3. Riggs bank

That's Jonathan Bush's bank.

"A political Web site written by a Democratic operative drew attention yesterday to the fact that President Bush's uncle, Jonathan J. Bush, is a top executive at Riggs Bank, which this week agreed to pay a record $25 million in civil fines for violations of law intended to thwart money laundering.

Jonathan Bush, who is a major fundraiser for his nephew, was appointed in 2000 to run Riggs Investment Management Co. His association with Riggs began when he headed J. Bush & Co., a New Haven, Conn., company he created in 1970 and built to offer advice on money management.

Riggs bought J. Bush & Co. in 1997 to help create a one-stop financial outlet offering a range of services, from insurance to securities trading and investment advice. News reports at the time said investment bankers estimated the purchase price, which was not disclosed, as $5.5 million."

And, who did the Saudis hire to represent them against the 9/11 families? Baker & Botts, James A. Baker III's law firm.

Edited to add: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28396-2004May14.html

[G_j]

4. any 'coincidence theorist' will tell you

nothing to see here..

[TWiley]

8. It just does not get any better than this.

Now why in heavens name is there not an investigation and public disclosure? Think of the millions wasted on Whitewater. There is plenty of low hanging fruit to implicate bfee in a slew of wrongdoing.

[leesa]

5. Oh oh! Calling James Baker! Calling James Baker!

How will he be able to save his co-conspirators of 9-11 AND ensure that the voting process in America remains corrupted! Only Superman can help us now.

[Doctor_J]

6. I can't believe Kerry & the other Dems

didn't make this a campaign issue. The man who spearheaded the 2000 election overthrow, defending the 9/11 attackers from justice. Never heard a peep about it during the campaign.

[elehhhhna]

7. Bob Dole: Why do you get $8,000 in CASH per week from Riggs Bank?

Riggs Affair Sparks 'Suspicious Activity' Alert on Dole
Thursday September 2, 11:49 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- The Riggs National Bank scandal has led to unexpected fallout, including "suspicious activity reports" on former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported.

As often as once a week, Mr. Dole's assistant walks around the corner from his Pennsylvania Avenue office in Washington to a branch of Riggs Bank, where she withdraws as much as $8,000 in cash. For walking-around money, Mr. Dole keeps a wad of $100 bills in the breast pocket of his shirt. "I probably use a credit card four or five times a year," Mr. Dole confesses. "I don't even have a wallet."

Mr. Dole's affinity for cash was of no concern to anyone until recently, when federal regulators pawing through the books of scandal-tarred Riggs spotted the large withdrawals and called them to the attention of management. In short order, the bank filed "suspicious activity reports" on Mr. Dole and another prominent Washington figure, Mr. Carlucci, questioning whether the two men might have violated federal laws against money laundering.

The reports are the latest strange fallout from the Riggs affair, which has reverberated through Washington in unexpected ways since the bank got into trouble with regulators this year for overlooking signs of suspicious activity by Saudi diplomats and foreign despots. The scandal has provoked a minor diplomatic crisis for the State and Treasury departments as Riggs, which has long had a lock on the diplomatic market in Washington, starts to shed all of its embassy accounts to get out from under a regulatory cloud and sell itself to PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC).

http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&news_id=dji-00094720040902&feed=dji&date=20040902&cat=INDUSTRY

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