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Extracted Text (OCR)
820
1533, 1537 (S.D.N.Y.1983) (holding corre-
spondent banking relationships insufficient
to create general personal jurisdiction).
NCB offers its customers the opportunity
to open accounts directly with United
States-based securities broker-dealers, but
NCB does not act as a broker-dealer for
securities sold in the United States and is
not so licensed. Juco Decl. 114; Bersch v.
Drexel Firestone, Inc., 519 F.2d 974, 998
(2d Cir.1975) (finding Canadian securities
broker not “doing business” in New York
when it arranges for its Canadian custom-
ers to buy and sell U.S. securities through
U.S. broker). In 2002, less than 2% of the
securities NCB traded for its own account
were issued by U.S. entities. Juco Decl.
9115; Schenker, 2002 WL 1560788, at *3-5
(finding that a single bank account in the
United States, constituting small fraction
of defendant’s total assets, is insufficient to
form the basis for personal jurisdiction).
[65] Taken individually, NCB’s con-
tacts with the United States would not
satisfy due process requirements. Howev-
er, when they are examined as a whole—
the presence of a branch office until 1992,
a subsidiary until 2001, taking advantage
of the privilege of its presence in New
York by instigating a lawsuit in this forum,
advertisements in U.S. publications—the
Court finds that they may, with the help of
limited jurisdictional discovery, comport
with due process. NCB’s motion to dis-
miss is therefore denied without prejudice.
7. Abdulrahman bin Mahfouz
Abdulrahman bin Mahfouz is a Defen-
dant in the Burnett action. He is the son
of Defendant Khalid bin Mahfouz and a
director of the Defendant charity Blessed
Relief Society, also known as Muwaffaq.
Burnett Complaint 11331; 445. Blessed
37. The Burnett Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed
their claims against Nimir LLC. See Mem. in
349 FEDERAL SUPPLEMENT, 2d SERIES
Relief is a branch of the Human Concern
International Society, which Osama bin
Laden identified as a supporter in 1995.
Id. 1333. He is a shareholder and the
CEO of former Defendant Nimir, LLC,
also known as Nimir Petroleum Ltd. /d.
1443." Finally, Plaintiffs claim that Mr.
bin Mahfouz was a member of the board
and Vice Chairman of the Executive Man-
agement Committee of Defendant National
Commercial Bank. Jd. 1 445.
Plaintiffs base their personal jurisdiction
arguments on their claim that Mr. bin
Mahfouz was a participant in the conspira-
cy of terror that purposefully directed its
conduct at the United States and included
the September 11 hijackers. Plaintiffs
also claim that he has business interests in
the United States. Specifically he is a
shareholder in U.S.-based companies, and
his company, Al Murjan, allegedly has
dealings with the American phone compa-
ny Hughes Technologies, Inc.
Mr. bin Mahfouz disputes the manner in
which he was served. His name appeared
in Plaintiffs’ notice by publication in The
International Herald, which only has cir-
culation of 199 in the entire Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia, and Al Quds al-Arabia,
which is banned in the Kingdom. He sub-
mits that he has no personal contacts with
the United States and there is no basis for
exercising personal jurisdiction over him.
[66] The Burnett complaint does not
contain any specific actions by Mr. bin
Mahfouz from which the Court could infer
that he purposefully directed his activities
at the United States. His affiliations with
entities that are alleged to have U.S. con-
tacts will not sustain jurisdiction. Family
Internet, 1999 WL 796177, at *4. Finally,
being a shareholder in a United States
Supp. of Motion to Dismiss Ex. 1.
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