UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ESTATE OF JEREMY ISADORE LEVIN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Civil Action No. 21-420 (JEB) WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., Defendant. (And consolidated cases) MEMORANDUM OPINION Congress has established a generous compensation scheme for victims of terrorism and their families. The United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund doles out money pursuant to an evenhanded and orderly process for all claimants. Having learned that Wells Fargo Bank held $10 million in funds that the Office of Foreign Assets Control initially blocked in connection with an Iranian front company’s attempted purchase of a petroleum tanker, Plaintiffs here seek to jump the queue and obtain a quicker payday by attaching such assets. The Government, conversely, endeavors to recover the money through a separate forfeiture action so that it can deposit those funds into the Victims Fund and thereby maintain its equitable process for compensating all U.S. claimants. In these consolidated actions, the Court must determine whether Plaintiffs or the Government may properly claim the funds. Upon remand from the D.C. Circuit, the United States renews its Motion to Quash Plaintiffs’ attachments but presses alternative grounds. Because this Court finds those grounds persuasive, it will grant the Government’s Motion. 1 Plaintiffs must remain in line and wait their turn. I. Background As the complicated factual and procedural background of this case has been previously covered by both this Court and the D.C. Circuit, a brief background on issues most relevant to this latest Motion will suffice. See Levin v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 523 F. Supp. 3d 14 (D.D.C. 2021); Estate of Levin v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 45 F.4th 416 (D.C. Cir. 2022). A. Factual Background The Court begins by reintroducing the two groups of Plaintiffs in this case and then offers a brief history of the origin of the funds at issue here. 1. Plaintiffs’ Judgments Plaintiffs in the cases addressed in this Opinion are two groups of individuals with unsatisfied judgments against Iran. First, those in Levin have some relation to Jeremy Levin, who was kidnapped and tortured in 1984 by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah. See Levin v. Islamic Republic of Iran, No. 05-2494, ECF No. 23 (Levin Report and Recommendation) (D.D.C. Dec. 31, 2007). Although these Plaintiffs have collected a portion of their judgment amounts, they are still owed over $15 million including post-judgment interest. Id., ECF No. 34-2 (Levin Mot. for Writ of Attachment) at 4. Second, Plaintiffs in Nos. 21-126, 21-127, and 21-128 (Owens Plaintiffs) are all individuals who bear some relation to victims of al Qaeda’s 1998 suicide bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In 2011, Judge John D. Bates of this district found Iran liable for those attacks because it had “provided material aid and support to al Qaeda.” Owens v. Republic of Sudan, 826 F. Supp. 2d 128, 135 (D.D.C. 2011). He eventually entered judgments against Iran totaling nearly $1 billion. See Owens v. Republic of Sudan, No. 01-2244, ECF No. 2 301 …
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