A US federal judge has ordered the Iranian government to pay $6 billion to families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which have left around 3,000 people dead.
Judge George Daniels ordered Iran to pay “$12,500,000 per spouse, $8,500,000 per parent, $8,500,000 per child, and $4,250,000 per sibling” to the families and estates of 9/11 victims, according to court filings.
It is not the first time that Daniels has issued default judgments against Iran. In 2011 and 2016, the New York judge ordered Iran to pay billions of dollars to insurance companies and victims of the 9/11 attacks.
Last week, the Department of Justice said it arrested and indicted three businessmen in Califonria for violating the United States’ trade sanctions against Iran.
The three businessmen, who are naturalized US citizens from Iran, allegedly used “elaborate systems of international wire transfers” to fund the operation of sending the auto parts to Iran, according to a press release from the Northern California’s US attorney’s office.
They also used “prohibited financial institutions” to wire money from Tehran to the Bay Area.
Sadr Emad-Vaez, Pouran Aazad and Hassan Ali Moshir-Fatemi are all listed as executives for a Tehran-based manufacturing operation, according to the US attorney’s office. Emad-Vaez and Aazad were arrested in their Los Altos Hills residence and Moshir-Fatemi at San Francisco International Airport earlier this month.
All three were indicted on April 19, according to The Mercury News.
