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Extracted Text (OCR)
832
from Al Rajhi accounts. Id. In “December
1999, Al Rajhi directly funded Tulkarm
Charity Committee, a known front for Ha-
mas.” Jd. 971.
Members of the Al Rajhi family, which
owns and controls Al Rajhi Bank, are al-
leged to have ties to Osama bin Laden’s
personal secretary. [d. 179. The Al Ra-
jhi family is purportedly a major donor to
the SAAR Network, a Defendant here,
being investigated by federal authorities in
Virginia. Jd. 1980-84. Finally, Al Rajhi
family members are allegedly closely asso-
ciated with wealthy donors to Osama bin
Laden. Jd. 185 (alleging ties with the
Golden Chain).
Judge Robertson found that the only
allegation in the Third Amended Burnett
Complaint that stated a claim upon which
relief could be granted was that Al Rajhi
Bank acted as an instrument “of terror, in
raising, facilitating and transferring money
to terrorist organizations.” Burnett I, 274
F.Supp.2d at 109 (quoting Burnett Com-
plaint 146). Judge Robertson noted that
there was no support “for the proposition
that a bank is liable for injuries done with
money that passes through its hands in the
form of deposits, withdrawals, check clear-
ing services, or any other routine banking
service.” Jd. In light of the liberal plead-
ing standards, however, Judge Robertson
denied Al Rajhi Bank’s motion to dismiss
and permitted it to request a more defini-
tive statement under Rule 12(e). Jd. at
110. The Burnett Plaintiffs provided an
89-paragraph response on August 27,
2003. Thereafter, Al Rajhi Bank renewed
its motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule
12(b)(6).
40. Under Islamic banking laws, Hararm is
forbidden income that must be given away.
The disposal of Hararm cannot be considered
charitable giving. Rule 12(e) Statement 19.
In the 12(e) statement, the Burnett Plaintiffs
explain that al Qaeda takes advantage of the
under-regulated Islamic banking system to
349 FEDERAL SUPPLEMENT, 2d SERIES
Al Rajhi Bank argues that Plaintiffs of-
fer no factual allegations in support of
their conclusion that Al Rajhi Bank had to
know that the charities it supported
through Zakat and Hararm“ payments
were really fronts for al Qaeda. Al Rajhi
Bank contends it had a legal and religious
duty to make its charitable donations and
any terrorist activity by the recipient char-
ities was unknown to Al Rajhi Bank. See
Rule 12(e) Statement 11 26, 29. Contrary
to Plaintiffs’ arguments, Al Rajhi Bank
submits it did not have a duty, or a right,
to inspect the Defendant charities’ finan-
cial transactions to ascertain the ultimate
destination of its donations. But see Rule
12(e) Statement 132 (“Al Rajhi is required
to determine that the ultimate recipients of
these contributions fall within one of the
categories prescribed in the Quran for re-
cipients of Zakat.”). Al Rajhi Bank sub-
mits that SAMA did not implement any
duty to investigate Zakat payments after
its meeting with representatives of the Na-
tional Security Council and Office of For-
eign Assets Control.
[95] Plaintiffs do not allege that Al
Rajhi Bank provided direct material sup-
port to al Qaeda. Rather, Plaintiffs claim
Al Rajhi Bank aided and abetted the Sep-
tember 11 terrorists by donating to certain
Defendant charities and acting as the bank
for these Defendants. New York law and
the courts interpreting the ATA in Boim
make very clear that concerted action lia-
bility requires general knowledge of the
primary actor’s conduct. See Pittman, 149
F.3d at 123; Boim IJ, 291 F.3d at 1023;
Bown ITI, 340 F.Supp.2d at 906. Even
move and launder money. 12(e) Statement
111. Plaintiffs allege that al Qaeda has pervert-
ed the Zakat and Hararm principles in Islam-
ic banking to collect and distribute money to
individuals and cells throughout the world.
Id. 494-9; see also Burnett Complaint 1 43.
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