U.S. Supreme Court rejects Iran bank's bid to avoid payout to attack victims

Source: Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that almost $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be turned over to American families of people killed in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other attacks blamed on Iran.

The court's 6-2 ruling dealt a setback to Iran's central bank, finding that the U.S. Congress did not usurp the authority of American courts by passing a 2012 law stating that the frozen funds should go toward satisfying a $2.65 billion judgment won by the families against Iran in U.S. federal court in 2007.

Bank Markazi had challenged a 2014 ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the money, held in a Citibank trust account in New York, should be handed over to the American plaintiffs.

The ruling, written by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said the U.S. Congress did not violate the separation of powers principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution that gives specific authority to the government's executive, legislative and judicial branches.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-iran-idUSKCN0XH1R6