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In re: TERRORIST ATTACKS ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001., 2012 WL 257568 (2012)

Qaida’s operations, and consequently that the accounts maintained by Al Rajhi Bank on behalf of *103 those organizations were being used to channel funds to al Qaida.” JA3828.

Plaintiffs made further allegations connecting the Al Rajhi family, “which owns and controls Al Rajhi Bank,” to al-Qaeda, including that they have ties to Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary, are major donors to the SAAR network, and are closely associated with wealthy donors to Osama bin Laden identified on the Golden Chain. SPA56 (Terrorist Attacks I); JA1081-85; Companion Brief at Point LB.2(c). The district court found such allegations to be insufficient because plaintiffs did not also provide “allegation[s] that the family members were acting in furtherance of Al Rajhi Bank business.” SPA57 (Terrorist Attacks I). The district court missed the point entirely, though, in focusing on the family members’ actions and whether they furthered the bank’s business. As the D.C. Circuit found in Al-Adahi, these allegations of the family members’ affiliations and patterns of behavior paint a mosaic revealing intimate involvement with al-Qaeda. As a result, these allegations support a reasonable inference that defendants’ provision of material support to al-Qaeda was done either knowingly or recklessly.

*104 The district court made the same error in finding insufficient allegations that Al Rajhi Bank provided material support to Hamas and other terrorists, including through provision of funds to Tulkarm Charity Committee, a known front for Hamas. SPA56-57 (Terrorist Attacks I); JA1077-79. Plaintiffs also alleged that Al Rajhi Bank hosted its website with Infocom, a Texas-based company owned and operated by Mousa Marzook, a Hamas leader and designated terrorist. SPA56 (Terrorist Attacks I); JA1077-78. Infocom has provided funding to Hamas, and Al Rajhi Bank has made transfers from its accounts to Marzook and Infocom. SPA56 (Terrorist Attacks I). The district court found these allegations to be insufficient to support the ATA claim on the ground that “[p]laintiffs have not alleged any relationship between Hamas and al Qaeda or the terrorist attacks of September 11.” Id. at 57. Again, this ignores that such allegations provide greater support for an inference that Al Rajhi Bank had the requisite mental state when providing material support to al-Qaeda, because associates of terrorists tend to be aware of and involved in numerous activities of terrorists.

Allegations against the other defendants provide support for the same inference. The pleadings allege that Saudi American Bank has a close *105 relationship with the Saudi Bin Laden family and “directly and materially supported Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups in that region” by “participat[ing] in the scheme to fund terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank.” Id. at 58; JA3089.

DMI Trust is alleged to have served as one of the central banking entities that, beginning in the early 1980s, Saudi Arabia used to “channel[] massive financial support for the spread of Wahhabism, the radical brand of Islam at the heart of the al Qaida ideology” by “provid[ing] material support and resources to al Qaeda ....” JA3833, 4331. The pleadings also allege that DMI Trust has extensive relationships with al-Qaeda and its closest operatives. For example, DMI Trust is the parent company of Islamic Investment Company of the Gulf, which is the parent of Al Shamal Bank. JA2570. Osama bin Laden helped establish Al Shamal Bank in 1991 by providing capital of $50 million, and it has since held accounts for numerous al-Qaeda operatives. JA2570-71. Adel Baterjee, a wealthy Saudi businessman and close associate of Osama bin Laden, is the chairman of Al Shamal Bank. JA2587. All of DMI Trust’s entities are chaired by Price Mohamed al-Faisal al-Saud, a known collaborator of al-Qaeda, who has “engaged in the sponsorship of international terrorism through [DMI *106 Trust], the Faisal Islamic Bank and Al Shamal Bank.” JA902, 2584. DMI S.A., the wholly owned and controlled subsidiary of DMI Trust, owns 100% of Islamic Investment Company of the Gulf, for which Mohamed al-Faisal al-Saud was the Chairman and Haydar Mohamed Bin Laden, the brother of Osama bin Laden, was a Director, and which is the main shareholder of Faisal Islamic Bank (Sudan). JA832, 2562. DMI Trust also appointed Hassan Abdallah Al Turabi, who has “embrace[d] an ideology of violence ...[,] promote[d] violent jihad ...[,] and encouraged radical Islamic terrorist groups such as al Qaeda” as a supervising Board of Director. JA2576-82. Youssef al-Karadawi, “the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who promotes the ... philosophy of jihad” and “has been barred from entering the [United States] since November 1999 for his alleged support of terrorism and affiliations with al-Qaeda associates[,]” has served as a “member of the Religious Board of DMI Trust ....” JA2590-92.

In addition, the pleadings allege that Saleh Abdullah Kamel “established Dallah Al Baraka as a central house for Islamic terrorism when al Qaeda first started carrying out attacks against the United States.” JA4314. Saleh Abdullah Kamel visited Sudan in 1991 with Saudi officials *107 and businessmen -- including Yassin Al-Qadi, who was named as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on October 12, 2001 -- and entered into “symbiotic business” investments with Osama bin Laden’s entities and the government of Sudan. JA3132. Saleh Abdullah Kamel was also listed as a board member for IIRO’s

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