Standard Chartered defeats two lawsuits in US over alleged ties to attacks

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Friday dismissed two lawsuits seeking to hold Standard Chartered Bank liable for having allegedly provided indirect support to groups that conducted 12 attacks in Israel and Iraq between 2010 and 2019.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan said the 90 plaintiffs--including attack victims and their relatives or representatives--did not plausibly allege that the British bank "knowingly and substantially assisted" the attacks.

In court papers, Standard Chartered said it "did not commit any acts of terrorism and did not support any terrorist or attack."

The plaintiffs alleged that Standard Chartered provided financial and logistical support to Iran's central bank, other banks and companies, and individuals that aided Hamas, Hezbollah, Jaysh al-Mahdi and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

This allegedly included transfers of billions of dollars, despite counterterrorism warnings from U.S. government officials and others, and violated the federal Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA.

But the judge said that while Standard Chartered "engaged in some wrongdoing" in connection with helping customers evade sanctions, its conduct had no "direct nexus" to the attacks.

"Even under the most generous reading of the allegations there are several steps between any conduct by SCB and the actions of those who directly perpetrated the attacks," Garnett wrote.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Standard Chartered and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.

The cases are Fraenkel et al v Standard Chartered Bank, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-04484; and Brauner et al v Standard Chartered Bank in the same court, No. 24-05788.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Diane Craft)