This week, federal prosecutors filed a suit to be able to take control of Syed Rizwan Farook’s payouts.
The life insurance policies taken out by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters from the attacks in December 2015, may soon be seized by the U.S. government if federal prosecutors are successful in winning the lawsuit they have now filed.
This would allow the government to seize the payouts from the two insurance policies carried by the shooter.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles made the filing for the civil asset forfeiture lawsuit on Tuesday, May 31, in the effort to be able to legally seize the two life insurance policies from Farook’s estate. Combined, their value is $275,000. These two policies were taken out separately several years ago. The first was in 2012 and is worth $25,000. The second was taken out the next year, said prosecutors, and is worth $250,000.
The beneficiary of both life insurance policies was Farook’s mother as his wife died with him in the shootout.
Tashfeen Malik, Farook’s wife, was also killed on December 2, 2015 during the attack in which they murdered 14 people who were attending a gathering. The shooters ended up in a shootout with authorities and were both killed.
The reason for the lawsuit is that the U.S. attorney’s office claims that federal law dictates that any assets that are generated as a result of terrorism against the United States are subject to forfeiture. The purpose of the lawsuit is to obtain both the insurance policies and the payouts they would have provided.
U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker explained that “Terrorists must not be permitted to provide for their designated beneficiaries through their crimes.” She also went on to add that “My office intends to explore every legal option available to us to ensure these funds are made available to the victims of this horrific crime. We will continue to use every tool available to seek justice on behalf of the victims.”
This makes it clear that the intention for the seizure of the life insurance policies is to be able to make the payout money available to the families of the victims of the shooting.
