The estate of a CNN journalist who was kidnapped by Hezbollah in the 1980s has joined the chase for the $10m originally due to a Greek tanker owner and seized over fraud allegations.
Lawyers for Jerry Levin's estate have filed papers in two US federal courts. They are targeting the millions of dollars that were intended to pay Polembros Shipping for the 150,812-dwt Gulf Sky (built 1998) but were instead confiscated by the US government.
"[The Levins] only discovered the location of the property ... after reading an article published in the Wall Street Journal," the lawyers said in the federal court in Washington DC.
The funds were taken by the US after it filed criminal charters against Iranian nationals Amir Dianat and Kamran Lajmiri in May.
The duo allegedly have connections to the heavily sanctioned Iranian National Oil Co and the Iranian National Tanker Co. They were said to have created Taif Mining Services to give Iran interests cover to buy the Gulf Sky, then known as the Nautic, for roughly $12.3m last year.
Polembros' Liberian subsidiary received the $2.34m down payment, but the remaining funds, held at Wells Fargo, were blocked.
The Levins' claim stems from Jerry Levin's kidnapping by Iran-backed Lebanese political party and militant group Hezbollah in Beirut in 1984. The plot was an effort to force Kuwait to release militants convicted of bombing the US and French embassies the year before.
After nearly a year of being shuffled from one location to another and being held in solitary confinement in each, the CNN Middle East bureau chief escaped out of a second-floor window. He fled until he encountered the Syrian army, which turned him over to US authorities.
Levin contracted hepatitis during the ordeal, suffered malnourishment and severe hearing loss.
He died in February of unspecified causes and his wife, Lucille, died in September.
The Levins filed a lawsuit against the Iranian government and various officials in 2005, winning a $28.8m judgment in 2008.
The estate has been collecting various sums since, and, according to court papers, is still owed $15m.
The claims were made in court filings in Washington DC and the US court for the Southern District of New York in August.
Last week, the US filed papers seeking to have the cases designed as related and stating their intention to quash the claims.
In addition to the Levins, the victims of two US embassy bombings by al-Qaeda in 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania have also filed claims on the $10m.
In those lawsuits, the victims of the bombings argue that the Republic of Sudan allowed al-Qaeda to operate in the country and Iran provided parts for the explosives.
Polembros was cleared of wrongdoing in the sale, with managing director George Vakirtzis telling TradeWinds the company received a letter from the Department of Justice affirming it was not part of the conspiracy.
The company, though, is still down $10m and is no longer in control of the ship.
Since the lawsuit, the Gulf Sky allegedly breached a no-sail order, issued in the United Arab Emirates, to return to Iran.
Of its 28 crew, 26 were repatriated to India, while two remained on board as their passports had expired.
