Jordan's largest financial institution Arab Bank Plc has been found liable by a US jury for financing Hamas. The court opened the door for suits by saying the Arab Bank must compensate victims of two dozen attacks attributed to Hamas.
Jurors needed less than two days of deliberations to reach their verdict after a six-week trial in Brooklyn federal court, which lawyers described as the first terrorism financing civil case to reach trial in the US, "Reuters" reports.
A trial on damages will be held later. Similar lawsuits are pending in New York against Bank of China Ltd, which is accused of providing services to Islamic Jihad, and Credit Lyonnais SA, which is accused of aiding Hamas. Those banks have denied the respective allegations.
Nearly 300 Americans who were either victims or related to victims of attacks linked to Hamas had sued Arab Bank in 2004. They accused the Jordanian bank of violating the US Anti-Terrorism Act, a law that lets victims of US-designated foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas seek damages.
"It has been a long haul," said plaintiff Maida Averbach, 76, who said her son was paralysed from the neck down in a 2003 suicide bombing and died in 2010 from complications. "Unfortunately my Steve isn't here."
Arab Bank said it would appeal. In a statement, the bank said the verdict "comes as no surprise" after a series of what it considered legally incorrect court rulings that kept it from mounting a proper defense.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 23, 2014
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