Crime & Safety
Cement Firm That Gave ISIS Cash Must Pay $778M In Penalties: NYC Feds
Lafarge, a French cement company, pleaded guilty to paying the Islamic State to keep a plant in Syria running, prosecutors said Tuesday.
NEW YORK CITY — A French cement firm admitted to shelling out millions to the Islamic State to keep a plant in Syria running while the country was engulfed in a horrific civil war, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced Tuesday.
The guilty plea by Lafarge executives is the first time a corporation copped to providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, prosecutors said.
Lafarge must pay $778 million in penalties, authorities said.
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United States Attorney Breon Peace said Lafarge executives chose to put money into ISIS's hands, thus aiding one of the world's "most barbaric terrorist organizations," rather than lose profits during the Syrian civil war.
“Lafarge did this not merely in exchange for permission to operate its cement plant – which would have been bad enough – but also to leverage its relationship with ISIS for economic advantage, seeking ISIS’s assistance to hurt Lafarge’s competition in exchange for a cut of Lafarge’s sales," Peace said in a statement.
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"Today, Lafarge has admitted and taken responsibility for its staggering crime. Never before has a corporation been charged with providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations."
The company built a $680 million cement plant in northern Syria in 2011 as the civil war broke out, authorities said.
Rather than lose money, Lafarge executives forged ahead by paying ISIS for protection and supplies. They also cut what amounted to a "revenue-sharing" deal with ISIS, prosecutors said.
Roughly $6 million directly went to ISIS as other companies pulled out of Syria and the terrorist group circulated beheading videos, according to prosecutors.
Lafarge said in a statement that it has “accepted responsibility for the actions of the individual executives involved.” It also added: "We deeply regret that this conduct occurred and have worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve this matter."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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