Customers outside a branch of SGBL Bank in Lebanon in November 2019. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images)
On Aug. 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, a federal appeals court in New York, overturned a previous decision by the New York civil court that had dismissed a lawsuit against the Lebanese bank Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL) in the “Lelchook” case, sending it back for a ruling on the merits.In 2019, 21 American citizens injured in Hezbollah attacks on Israel in 2006, along with members of their families, filed suit against the bank under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA). The plaintiffs argue that since the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) was dissolved in 2011 following U.S. Treasury sanctions for money laundering and financing Hezbollah, SGBL, which acquired the bank with the approval of the Banque du Liban and the Treasury at the time, must assume financial...
On Aug. 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, a federal appeals court in New York, overturned a previous decision by the New York civil court that had dismissed a lawsuit against the Lebanese bank Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL) in the “Lelchook” case, sending it back for a ruling on the merits.In 2019, 21 American citizens injured in Hezbollah attacks on Israel in 2006, along with members of their families, filed suit against the bank under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA). The plaintiffs argue that since the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) was dissolved in 2011 following U.S. Treasury sanctions for money laundering and financing Hezbollah, SGBL, which acquired the bank with the approval of the Banque du Liban and the Treasury at the time, must assume...
