BROOKLYN (CN) — French cement maker Lafarge asked a New York court Thursday to dismiss three related lawsuits filed by dozens of terrorist attack survivors, arguing the court doesn’t have personal jurisdiction.
Survivors and family members of the victims claim that Lafarge used New York banks to execute U.S. dollar wire transfers to pay the Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front.
Lafarge in 2022 forfeited $778 million and pleaded guilty to conspiring to support the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations. From 2013 to 2014, Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria schemed to pay IS and al-Nusra in exchange for permission to operate a cement plant in Syria, generating approximately $70.3 million in revenue from the deal.
As Lafarge returned to court on Thursday to fight similar claims, the company’s attorneys argued that the New York court lacks personal jurisdiction over the company because Lafarge did not deliberately conduct business in the state.
“This is a complete fishing expedition,” said Jay Musoff, an attorney with Loeb & Loeb who's representing Lafarge.
The plaintiffs point to three transactions in which Lafarge used New York banks to conduct business: two instances in August 2011, in which Lafarge Cyprus’s Dubai bank processed two intercompany loan payments through New York banks, and one instance in October 2014, in which Lafarge requested its French bank to wire U.S. dollars to an account in Dubai through a correspondent bank in New York.
But the fact that Lafarge directed banks to transact in U.S. dollars doesn’t prove Lafarge specifically requested to use New York banks to make these wire transfers, Musoff argued. He further added the transactions are “incidental” and don’t show that Lafarge “deliberately and purposefully” conducted business in the state.
“Even if the transaction has to be in U.S. dollars, it doesn’t necessarily require a wire through New York,” Musoff said.
Joshua Branson, an attorney with Kellogg Hansen who's representing the plaintiffs, countered that the transactions weren't “incidental." Lafarge’s efforts to transact in U.S. dollars is enough to qualify for personal jurisdiction in New York, he argued.
“For this scheme to work, they wanted New York banks to send their dollar transactions,” Branson said.
Branson noted that plaintiffs do not have access to Lafarge’s bank records. He argued there could be more transactions that tie the company to New York.
“We’ve alleged three examples, and we’ve been very clear this is not exhaustive,” Branson said.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, a Bill Clinton appointee, said on Thursday that he doesn’t have enough information to decide if the court has jurisdiction.
“These are serious issues. These are people who have great loss in their lives, and I take it to heart,” Garaufis said. “But whether they have a claim to the law first has to be resolved.”
Garaufis reserved judgement on Lafarge’s motion to dismiss, instead ordering the parties to conduct limited jurisdictional discovery for 60 days.
Branson noted that Lafarge refused to cooperate in the Department of Justice’s initial criminal investigation. “The notion that the DOJ will have everything relevant in this case, that’s just not true,” Branson said.
Regardless, Garaufis told both parties that — even though they want to move quickly — he must make sure the court “covers every step.”
“They want to move quickly, you want to move quickly," Garaufis said. "I want to move deliberately."
A fourth civil lawsuit has also been filed against Lafarge, but attorneys for those plaintiffs were not present at Thursday’s proceedings. That December 2023 complaint was filed by hundreds of Yazidi-Americans and is led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, who was abducted and trafficked by ISIS in 2014. They are represented by Amal Clooney and Lee Wolosky at Jenner Block.
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