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| Sen Tim Sheehy: US attorney blocks Gold Star families from seizing $15B in Iranian Bitcoin |
| 2026-04-18 |
| [FoxNews] During my time serving in the Middle East, I witnessed firsthand Iran’s role in the systematic targeting and murder of Americans. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has deliberately and systematically killed thousands of American servicemembers and civilians, including good friends of mine, by funding and directing a network of proxy terrorist organizations that have directly benefited adversary states like China and Russia with cheap oil, rocket and drone technology and regional instability. This proxy warfare against America isn’t cheap. Iran spends billions of dollars every year in support of foreign terrorism around the world. It is therefore critical that the United States maintain the integrity of its sanctions and military pressure against this rogue regime, especially in light of Iran’s attacks on civilian shipping and energy infrastructure in the Gulf. Our sanctions starve the Iranian regime of the funds it needs to carry out violence and are a crucial financial tool to combating terrorism worldwide. That is why I was glad to see President Donald Trump’s signing in February 2025 of a National Security Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of the Treasury to impose maximum economic pressure on Iran. Congress has also acted in its authority to enlist the power of U.S. courts to contain Iran’s influence. Specifically, these laws empower U.S. courts to order the turnover of illicit Iranian assets to the countless victims of Iranian terrorism. Under these laws, U.S. terrorism victims have scoured the globe for hidden Iranian assets, degrading Iran’s commercial cover activities and money laundering networks. In creating this program, Congress not only provided a pathway to justice for American families but also deprived Iran of billions of dollars that could otherwise be spent on more terror against innocent Americans and our brave servicemembers. Right now, a group of victims of Iranian terrorism, led by the mother of 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz — who was abducted in 2007 from a U.S. compound in Iraq by an Iranian hit squad and summarily handcuffed, beaten and executed — are fighting to seize billions of dollars of Iranian cryptocurrency in federal court. These Gold Star families submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York hundreds of pages of expert reports and exhibits demonstrating how approximately $15 billion in Bitcoin was allegedly mined and held by the Iran and China Investment Development Group to help Iran evade sanctions. They have asked the court to turn over the funds to thousands of victims of Iranian terrorism with outstanding court judgments against Iran. Given Congress’ and Trump’s clear directive to bend all elements of national power to the containment of Iran, I was appalled to see the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., decide to stand against these Gold Star families. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |