Frozen Assets Going to Legal Bills
U.S. Has Linked Confiscated Funds To Financing Terror
By Gregory L. Vistica
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 1, 2003; Page A06
Millions of dollars impounded by the government from three Islamic charities accused of financing terrorism have been spent to pay the legal bills of the foundations' attorneys, according to the Treasury Department and the lawyers themselves.
Lawyers for the charities have billed the government for approximately $3 million worth of services that range from filing lawsuits to attempting to unfreeze the charities' assets to handling hundreds of media calls. All the legal activity involves civil disputes, not criminal matters.
The practice of allowing assets frozen in the domestic war on terrorism to be relinquished to the organizations accused of financing groups such as al Qaeda has alarmed several members of Congress.
"They ought to be paid by the people who are hiring them," but not with the frozen money if it is associated with the financing of terrorism, said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). "It's really a fraudulent conversion, a bait and switch," he said.
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