NEW YORK, April 5, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The family of an American teenager
killed aboard the MH17 flight launched a court case Thursday against Russian
banks and US money transfer companies for helping to finance pro-Moscow
separatists accused of shooting it down over Ukraine.
In a complaint filed in US federal court, the family of Quinn Lucas
Schansman — the only US citizen aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight from
Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur — takes aim at Russia’s Sberbank and VTB Bank,
which have offices in the US, and the Western Union and MoneyGram transfer
companies.
It accuses them of allowing large amounts of money to be sent to
separatists in the Donetsk People’s Republic, mainly from Russian diaspora
sympathizers residing in the US and elsewhere, allowing them to acquire heavy
weapons and to control the eastern part of Ukraine, from which the missile
that downed the aircraft was fired.
The 63-page complaint, which seeks unspecified damages, is based on a 1992
US anti-terrorism law that allows American victims of terrorism to sue those
who provide material support to terrorism.
Among the family’s lawyers is a former deputy US ambassador to the UN,
David Pressman.
“The men who launched the missile may never be hauled before a court to
answer for their crimes, but all of those who participated in arming them and
supporting them must be,” Pressman said in a statement.
“Today, businesses and banks that allowed greed to reign supreme by
providing — day in and day out — a reliable way for these terrorists to
raise money from supporters around the world will be forced to answer for
their actions,” he said.
A Netherlands-led probe concluded in May 2018 that the plane was struck by
a Buk surface-to-air missile controlled by Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket
Brigade, based in the city of Kursk.
Australia and the Netherlands blamed Russia for the disaster, which killed
all 298 people aboard, but Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility for
the destruction of the plane.