House bill would replenish fund for families of victims of state-sponsored terrorism

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of House members introduced a bill Thursday to replenish the fund created nine years ago to satisfy the unpaid legal judgments for families of victims of state-sponsored terrorism, which now includes the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund has issued just four distributions of money since 2015 as its source of funds has nearly dried up and many families entitled to funding have gotten no money or at most a quarter of their claims, the bill’s sponsors said.

“There are countless families who have suffered from state sponsored terrorism, and it calls for immediate and unwavering action,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-Pearl River), one of the bill’s sponsors, at a news conference outside the Capitol building.

“The bill ensures an immediate distribution from the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund in 2024. It also establishes required annual payouts from the USVSST Fund annually, helping ensure that victims and their families have a steady source of help,” he said.

Congress created the fund to compensate families of victims of state terrorism who have won court judgments against terrorist states that refused to pay. The fund compensates the families using fines and penalties from U.S. cases involving state sponsors of terrorism.

The law covers attacks beginning with the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis and including the attacks in Beirut, Kenya and Tanzania in the 1980s and 1990s, and ending with 9/11 and now, once the families get a court judgement, the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel and the January 2024 attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.

But the Justice Department has cut back its enforcement actions and has interpreted the statute narrowly, resulting in no meaningful distributions of funds for years.

“Over the past several years, distributions to victims on their court-awarded judgments has trickled to a halt,” said Angela Mistrulli, whose father Joseph Mistrulli, a union carpenter, died in the north tower of the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

“This was surprising to us as we saw DOJ bringing cases and settling them involving state sponsors of terrorism, exactly the type of cases that Congress promised would be used to help us get justice,” said Mistrulli, who grew up in Wantagh but now lives in Wisconsin.

“The objective here is to make sure that there is a mechanism to ensure that the fund is getting a steady flow and that we are able to support these families,” said Lawler.

“Obviously, that was Congress's intent when this bill was passed back in 2015, and the intention here is to make sure that the fund is fully funded on a continuing basis to make sure there's more oversight and accountability with respect to Congress,” he said.

The legislation would allow the fund to tap into unspent money in the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Fund and the Treasury Department Forfeiture Fund as well as the $900 million Binance Holdings Limited, which operates the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, must pay for financial transactions with state sponsors of terrorism.

The bill, whose sponsors include Lawler, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), is the House version of the Senate legislation introduced last year by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York co-sponsor the Senate bill. Among the 20 sponsors of the House bill are all four of Long Island’s congressmen — Reps. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park).