Family members of the victims of the Hamas terror attacks that began on October 7 have filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court under the United States Anti-Terrorism Act and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Each plaintiff is a United States citizen who had a family member who was killed or taken hostage during the attacks, which claimed the lives of some 1,200 innocents and injured nearly 5,000 more. An estimated 240 hostages were taken at that time. This was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust in terms of fatalities. Hamas was joined by several other terror groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), in carrying out these attacks.
The United States Anti-Terrorism Act allows for family members and estates of victims of international terror to bring suit in American courts. Further, the plaintiffs state that there is an exception to a second act – the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act – for acts of terrorism. Hamas and PIJ are designated foreign terrorist organizations (FTO’s) by the United States Department of State.
The family members of those who were “murdered, maimed, taken hostage, or otherwise injured in unspeakable acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas” demand a jury trial, according to the filed lawsuit. While Iran and Syria have been sued in the U.S. for sponsoring acts of terror against Americans in the past, this is one of the first times a cryptocurrency exchange has been sued for such acts. The lawsuit names Iran, Syria and Binance and was filed by Seiden Law LLP on January 31.
Plaintiffs Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie, of Chicago, were visiting family when they were taken hostage by Hamas. They were released on October 20, but seven other family members remain missing. Plaintiff Uri Raanan is their ex-husband and father.
Itay Glisko, a U.S. citizen who was serving in the IDF, was murdered by Hamas on October 7. His estate, father, mother and brothers brought suit.
Jeffrey Ludmir, a United States citizen, is the uncle and father figure of Dr. Daniel Levi of Peru who was a Soroka Medical Center physician; Dr. Levi was murdered as he was treating victims at Kibbutz Be’eri.
Iran is the principal backer of Hamas, providing hundreds of millions of dollars in support to the terrorist organization, including military training, equipment and expertise. Iran is also said to have provided the infamous paragliders and training which Hamas used to descend upon the Re’im Music Festival, killing 364 innocent concertgoers and wounding many more. At least 40 hostages were taken at the scene.
Syria is named as a defendant for providing weapons and drugs to Hamas, including the Captagon drug, which was used by Hamas to encourage its fighters to murder and torture the October 7 victims. The drug is also a source of funding for terrorist groups. Syria has also provided Hamas with rockets, which the terrorist group have used to fire at Israel with impunity. Senior Hamas leaders met with Syrian officials in Lebanon to plan the October 7 attack; Plaintiffs were severely injured by the terrorist acts, and their injuries include death, maiming, and other severe injuries, including: conscious pain and suffering; pecuniary loss and loss of income; loss of guidance, companionship and society; loss of consortium; severe emotional distress and mental anguish; and loss of solatium (compensation for wrongful death claims).
In the days after the attacks of October 7, Israeli law enforcement requested that at least 100 Binance accounts be frozen due to their being used to finance Hamas; Israel also requested information on 200 additional accounts. Hamas used Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trades, as a fundraising platform. Hamas initially solicited donations on its Telegram account before switching to its website.
Binance Holdings Limited and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, were sued in New York because a significant number of participants traded there. According to the plaintiffs, Binance and Zhao provided material support to terrorists. The company’s top executives continued providing financial services to Hamas, PIJ and their funders even after learning that the platform had provided these services and despite knowing that Hamas and PIJ are terrorist organizations.
Binance is alleged to have held itself out as having certain controls in place, while allowing high value traders to circumvent those controls. For example, Binance.us is the only platform on which U.S. customers can trade; however, Binance has allowed them to trade on Binance.com. According to an SEC complaint, Binance assisted certain customers in circumventing “KYC” (Know Your Customer) controls, which verify a trader’s country. According to the United States Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Binance actively sought to retain people on OFAC’s SDN (Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List) who laundered illicit financing, including terrorist funding.
FinCEN found that between 2017 and 2023, Binance was used to facilitate hundreds of Hamas transactions. In November 2023, Binance settled with FinCEN, the DOJ and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) for $4.3 billion, and agreed to plead guilty to, amongst other things, failing to comply with anti-money laundering law and sanctions.
According to FinCEN, Binance did not provide Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) for transactions involving child trafficking, terrorism and other suspicious transactions. Binance was also required to be under monitorship for five years with a view toward having the company exit the United States. The company was also required to do a lookback review of transactions between 2017 and 2023, which the October 7 plaintiffs believe will identify substantial additional transactions that funded Hamas and related entities. The October 7 attacks were a foreseeable result of Binance’s actions, according to the October 7 victims’ families.
When asked by CNN why she wanted to join the lawsuit, Trudi Daub, who lost a sister and other family members on October 7, said, “The lawsuit is a weapon in the world’s toolbox” against terrorism and intolerance, which Iran perpetrates with its support. Daub says this is like a murder trial: you can’t escape accountability for your actions. “They should not be allowed to get away with it.”
