US forces kill ISIS officer in Syria
Fox News’ chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin details the latest on a pair of attacks by US forces targeting ISIS leaders in Syria in the “Special Report.”
The families of some US service members who died fighting Islamic State in Syria are suing French cement giant Lafarge after the company pleaded guilty to making payments to the terror group.
“Defendants’ payments and business partnership with ISIS provided ISIS with the seed capital it needed to transform itself from a fledgling militia in the early 2010s into a brutal terrorist giant with the ability and intent to kill Americans.” , claims a lawsuit filed by the families of three US servicemen who were killed in attacks blamed on ISIS, according to an ABC report on Sunday.
Lafarge, a French company that at the time was among the largest in the world, pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay a fine of nearly $800 million in October after the company was the target of the first prosecution by the government of USA from a company for supporting terrorism.
Lafarge built a $680 million plant in northern Syria in 2011, but soon began facing competition from companies importing cheaper cement, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors accused the company of turning a blind eye to the actions of the ISIS militant groups it was working with, saying the financial deals it made were not due to an ideological alignment with the terror groups, but rather an attempt to secure an economic advantage.
FRENCH COMPANY CHARGED IN THE UNITED STATES FOR PAYMENTS BY THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP
A site of the cement manufacturer Lafarge is pictured in Paris, November 14, 2017.
(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
The Justice Department said the company paid about $6 million to militant groups in an attempt to keep the plant running, relying on the militants to protect its employees and ensure the safety of material shipments from the plant. Lafarge later pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in hundreds of millions in fines.
Prosecutors said the company also used fake contracts and other forged documents in an attempt to hide its business relationship with the militant groups.
“There is no justification, none at all, for a multinational corporation to authorize payments to a designated terrorist group. Such payments are flagrant violations of our laws, warrant the utmost scrutiny by US authorities, and deserve severe punishment,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen. in an October Justice Department news release.
The lawsuit claims the company put its “economic self-interest” first, helping to provide critical funding to a group that was killing innocent Americans and civilians.
ISIS in their former “caliphate” capital of Raqqa, Syria
(AP)
ISIS OPERATOR IN SYRIA KILLED IN US SPEC OPERATIONS RAID
“The defendants aided and abetted ISIS and ANF (Al Nusra Front) acts of international terrorism by knowingly providing substantial assistance, including by making cash and covert payments through foreign shell companies and intermediaries, purchasing raw materials and making anti-competitive agreements with , the foreign terrorist organizations, and by failing to safely shut down and evacuate the cement plant, thus putting tons of valuable cement and raw materials in the hands of ISIS and ANF,” the lawsuit states. “The defendants they knew that this material support was paid to foreign terrorist organizations and would be used to commit acts of international terrorism.”
The families of Marine Chief Petty Officer Jason Finan, Marine Senior Petty Officer Scott Cooper and former Marine David Berry, who were killed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria between 2015 and 2017, described “severe mental anguish, extreme emotional pain and suffering. they had suffered since the deaths in the lawsuit.
“Lafarge has already pleaded guilty to federal crimes and admitted to paying millions of dollars to ISIS,” a lawyer representing the families told ABC. “This lawsuit aims to hold him accountable to military families devastated by his heinous and illegal conduct. We hope more families will join the lawsuit and we look forward to bringing the case to trial before a jury of New Yorkers.”
US Army soldiers prepare to go on patrol from a remote combat outpost on May 25, 2021 in northeast Syria.
(John Moore/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Lafarge did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.
