In lieu of Veterans Day today, over 200 veterans and their families sued six banks, accusing them of conniving with Iran in transferring millions of dollars to militant groups targeting the United States troops during the war in Iraq.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, and five of the six banks facing the lawsuit include Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Suisse. The sixth bank is a subsidiary of Bank Saderat Iran, which is based in Britain, according to the Wall Street Journal.
According to the veterans and their families, the six banks helped Iran transfer millions of dollars using the U.S. financial system, and some of those transactions included one with Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies like Hezbollah, which attacked the U.S. troops in Iraq.
More over, most of the attacks were also detailed in the lawsuit, which includes one back in 2007 when four U.S. soldiers were kidnapped and then executed afterward.
The lawsuit claims that documents retrieved from the captured terrorists who belong in the militant groups showed that Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guard Corps were actually involved in the terrible crime.
The lawsuit comes after a September jury verdict that found Jordan's Arab Bank liable for providing financing to the Hamas terror group.
In that case, the jury ruled that the bank must compensate victims of over two dozen attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories linked to the group. Arab Bank is currently appealing the verdict.
Meanwhile, other big banks have already paid damages worth millions of dollars to settle disputes between veterans. Back in 2010, Barclays shelled out $500 million to avoid trial over claims of transacting with banks in countries targeted by U.S. sanctions, which includes Cuba, Libya, Sudan and Iran.
Furthermore, BNP Paribas, France's largest lending company, also settled to pay $8.9 billion over accusations of covering up $30 billion worth of transactions with Sudan, Syria and Iran back in 2009.
