What is the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund?

If you have heard about the aforementioned state sponsored terrorism fun and have no idea how it works, when it was created or how it is funded you are not alone. People injured in terrorist incidents overseas and families of those victims are eligible to file a claim for compensation. The fund itself was set up by Congress, is administered by the Justice Department and attorney Ken Feinberg, who acted as special master of the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund, in which he would help disperse some $7.1 billion to more than 5,000 claimants. Feinberg had similar income disbursement roles with similar funds that would be set up following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings and the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Claimant Eligibility

Those affected by the following incidents may be eligible to file a claim:

• certain victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
• those held hostage by Iranian students in Tehran in 1979-1980
• employees of the April 18, 1983 U.S. embassy bombing in Lebanon
• employees of the August 7, 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa (Tanzania and Kenya)
• in Lebanon and East Africa that were bombed in the 1980s, and Americans victimized by terrorist bombings in Israel

Certain terrorist incidents include the 1983 truck bombing of United States Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon and the 1996 attack on Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.

Fund Details

The new fund will last ten years and is financed by fines paid by international banks that violated Untied States embargoes against countries that have aided terrorists. Set up by congress in 2015, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division will administer the disbursements of the $1.1 billion fund. Payments will be made to survivors and families of survivors on a pro rata basis dependent on available monies. The The first round of payments will come from a forfeiture agreement that the United States reached with BNP Paribas SA of France in June of 2014 to settle charges that the French bank violated trade sanctions.