Bonacasa v. Standard Chartered PLC

JASTA Aiding, Abetting Claim Stated Against Bank Under Supreme Court Ruling in 'Twitter'

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OPINION & ORDER Plaintiffs brought this action pursuant to the Anti-Terrorism Act (“ATA”), as amended by the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (“JASTA”), alleging that Standard Chartered PLC (“SC PLC”) — through its subsidiary, Standard Chartered Bank (“Standard Chartered”) — aided and abetted al-Qaeda by providing banking services to the Fatima Group (“Fatima”), a Pakistani fertilizer company that purportedly supplied al-Qaeda with materials used to make improvised explosive devices (“IEDs”). Doc. 1. Plaintiffs are family members of service members killed by such explosive devices in Afghanistan between 2013 and 2015. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) for lack of personal jurisdiction and 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. Doc. 20. The Court dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims against SC PLC for lack of personal jurisdiction but declined to dismiss the case against Standard Chartered on either basis. Doc. 32. Before the Court is Standard Chartered’s motion for reconsideration of the Court’s prior decision on its motion to dismiss in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh, 598 U.S. 471 (2023), which clarified the standard for aiding and abetting liability under the ATA (as modified by JASTA). Doc. 60. For the reasons set forth below, Standard Chartered’s motion is denied. I. BACKGROUND¹ In the early 2000s, during the American war in Afghanistan, members of al-Qaeda attacked U.S. service members to drive them out of Afghanistan.²

45, 52. To that end, al-Qaeda established bomb-making factories in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, where the Taliban would manufacture explosives for al-Qaeda and the al-Qaeda Terror Syndicate (“the Syndicate”).³

Bonacasa v. Standard Chartered PLC

JASTA Aiding, Abetting Claim Stated Against Bank Under Supreme Court Ruling in 'Twitter'

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