(LibertySociety.com) – On October 18, Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) S.A., a building materials company based in Damascus, Syria, pleaded guilty to the charge of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. According to the US Department of Justice, the manufacturer gave resources to ISIS and al-Nusrah Front (ANF) in 2013 and 2014 in order to continue operating in the area.
On December 25, ABC News reported that three families sued LCS because they claim the company’s actions allowed ISIS to flourish in the area, leading to the untimely death of their loved ones — all US military members. Former Marine David Berry was killed by ISIS in Libya in 2015, and Navy Senior Petty Officer Scott Cooper Dayton and Navy Chief Petty Officer Jason Finan both died from two separate IEDs placed by the terrorists overseas in 2016.
The lawsuit alleges that Lafarge, a cement manufacturer based in Paris, helped fund the terror group’s deadly attacks by giving millions of dollars in bribes to them to keep a plant running during the Syrian civil war.https://t.co/ZzswEvAkUH
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) December 27, 2022
The case, filed with the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, stated the plaintiffs are suing for compensatory and punitive damages for their loss and their pain and suffering. The families are using the Anti-Terrorism Act as grounds for their case against Lafarge, which gives citizens or their families who suffer at the hands of terrorists the ability to hold responsible parties accountable. In this case, that would be LCS.
The current suit doesn’t clarify how much compensation the families seek, but documents from the DOJ in October stated the cement company agreed to pay $778 million in fines for providing support to terrorists.
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