American victims of terror attacks inside Israel failed to state a claim against a bank under the Anti-Terrorism Act for violations of currency restrictions designed to isolate Iran and prevent money from flowing to Hamas and Hizbollah, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled yesterday.
Upholding a lower court, the Second Circuit said UBS AG cannot be sued for damages from rocket attacks and bombings launched on Israel from 1997 to 2006 by Hamas and Hizbollah under the act, (ATS), 18 U.S.C. §2331 et seq. UBS AG was fined $100 million in 2004 by the Federal Reserve for transferring currency to Iran, and the plaintiffs in Rothstein v. UBS AG, 11-0211, claimed there was a sufficient causal connection between the transfers of funds and the attacks.
