Lafarge Pleads Guilty To Conspiring To Provide Material Support To Daesh

Policy Lafarge Pleads Guilty To Conspiring To Provide Material Support To Daesh Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Oct 19, 2022, 09:01am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin On October 19, 2022, the Department of Justice published a statement confirming that Lafarge S. A.

, a global building materials manufacturer, and its Syrian subsidiary, Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) S. A. , pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of conspiring to provide material support and resources in Daesh (also known as IS, ISIS, Islamic State) and al-Nusrah Front (ANF) in Northern Syria from 2013 to 2014.

Daesh and ANF are U. S. -designated foreign terrorist organizations.

Following the guilty pleas, U. S. District Judge William F.

Kuntz II sentenced the defendants to terms of probation and to pay financial penalties, including criminal fines and forfeiture of $777. 78 million. A Daesh billboard is seen destroyed in the middle of the road on November 8, 2016, in Qaraqosh, .

. . [+] Iraq.

(Photo credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images) Getty Images Daesh perpetrated genocide and crimes against humanity in Syria and Iraq. Among others, on August 3, 2014, members of Daesh launched a violent attack against Yazidis in Sinjar, Iraq. Daesh fighters killed hundreds, if not thousands of men.

As part of the same campaign, Daesh fighters abducted boys to turn them into child soldiers and women and girls for sex slavery. Over 2,700 Yazidi women and children are still missing and their fate is unknown. A few days after the attack on Sinjar, Daesh also attacked the Ninevah Plains and forced over 120,000 people to flee for their lives in the middle of the night.

Daesh committed murder, enslavement, deportation and forcible transfer of population, imprisonment, torture, abduction of women and children, exploitation, abuse, rape, sexual violence and forced marriage. According to court documents, Lafarge S. A.

and LCS “schemed to pay [Daesh] and ANF in exchange for permission to operate a cement plant in Syria from 2013 to 2014, which enabled LCS to obtain approximately $70. 3 million in revenue. ” According to the statement from the Department of Justice, from August 2013 through October 2014, Lafarge and LCS are said to have paid Daesh and ANF, “through intermediaries, the equivalent of approximately $5.

92 million, consisting of fixed monthly ‘donation’ payments to [Daesh] and ANF, payments to [Daesh]-controlled suppliers to purchase raw materials, and variable payments based on the amount of cement LCS sold. Lafarge and LCS also paid the equivalent of approximately $1. 11 million to the third-party intermediaries for negotiating with and making payments to [Daesh] and ANF on Lafarge’s and LCS’s behalf.

In addition, when LCS eventually evacuated the Jalabiyeh Cement Plant in September 2014, [Daesh] took possession of cement that LCS had produced in furtherance of the conspiracy, and [Daesh] sold the cement at prices that would have yielded [Daesh] approximately $3. 21 million. As a result of the scheme, LCS obtained approximately $70.

30 million in total sales revenue from August 2013 through 2014. The gains to all participants in the conspiracy, including LCS, the intermediaries and the terrorist groups, totaled approximately $80. 54 million.

” This money is said to have been used to to recruit members, wage war, and conduct barbaric atrocities. Lafarge and its subsidiary pleaded guilty to conspiring to “provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations and admitted to negotiating with and paying armed groups and terrorists, negotiating revenue-sharing agreements with [Daesh] to seek economic advantage, and concealing their payments, falsified records, and backdated contracts. ” MORE FOR YOU They Inherited Billions Upon Billions: Meet America’s Richest Heirs Password Sharing Crackdown And Ads Coming As Netflix Growth Bounces Back Truss Is The Latest Leader To Realise The Job Is More Tricky Than It Looks Commenting on the case, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O.

Monaco said: “The terrorism crimes to which Lafarge and its subsidiary have pleaded guilty are a vivid reminder of how corporate crime can intersect with national security. The defendants partnered with [Daesh] one of the most brutal terrorist organizations the world has ever known, to enhance profits and increase market share. ” This case sends the clear message to all companies that they too have obligations concerning human rights and national security and especially when operating in high-risk environments.

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