StanChart sued in US over Iran ties to Lebanon bombing

The estates of the victims of the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut sued Standard Chartered seeking compensation over the bank's concealment of Iran-linked transactions.

The civil lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court in Manhattan, said the bombing victims obtained a $2.6 billion judgment in compensatory damages against Iran in 2007. The court document said the plaintiffs include representatives of the estates of the 241 U.S. servicemen killed in the attack in the Lebanese capital, relatives and heirs and bombing survivors.

Standard Chartered spokeswoman Julie Gibson said the bank's policy is not to discuss pending litigation.

Standard Chartered Bank and its New York branch are identified as the defendants in the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and punitive damages.

The bank on Tuesday agreed to pay $340 million to New York State's financial regulator to settle allegations that it concealed Iran-linked transactions worth a total of $250 billion.

Wednesday's lawsuit on behalf of the bombing victims said "those unlawful actions are part and parcel of Iran's longstanding, determined efforts to evade collection of the judgment, and other judgments."

The case is Deborah Peterson et al v Standard Chartered Bank in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York No. 12-6257