In November 2017, Chief Petty Officer Kenton Stacy was injured in Raqqa, Syria whereas clearing the second flooring of a hospital that ISIS had booby trapped with explosives.
Now a quadriplegic, Stacy, his spouse Lindsey, and their 4 youngsters are a part of a lawsuit introduced by army households in opposition to the French cement firm, Lafarge, lately discovered responsible by a French Courtroom of paying tens of millions of {dollars} in bribes to ISIS to maintain their manufacturing unit open in ISIS-controlled territory in Syria.
“I imply, they have been basically funneling cash to fund terrorists and ISIS and all these heinous crimes and evil acts,” Lindsey Stacy instructed Fox Information whereas standing by the aspect of her husband, the previous Navy Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) specialist, who simply had one other surgical procedure to cope with accidents sustained in Syria 9 years in the past.
“It’s very overwhelming, Kenton struggles mentally and bodily along with his personal battles and the children and I. Now we have our personal struggles,” she continued. “It’s arduous to juggle, particularly when our oldest son has cerebral palsy, and he requires his personal 24-7 care.”
President Trump praised Stacy’s service to the nation in his 2018 State of the Union Tackle to Congress.
Military Employees Sergeant Justin Peck bounded right into a booby-trapped constructing to rescue Kenton after which gave him greater than 2 hours of CPR whereas medics labored to avoid wasting his life.
“Kenton Stacy would have died if not for Justin’s selfless love for a fellow warrior. Tonight, Kenton is recovering in Texas. Raqqa is liberated.…All of America salutes you.”
In a landmark ruling in April, a French courtroom convicted Lafarge, the world’s largest cement producer, of offering materials assist to a terror group and sentenced its former CEO to six years in jail.
Eight former Lafarge workers have been discovered responsible. Lafarge is interesting.
The corporate acknowledged the courtroom’s discovering describing the difficulty as a “legacy matter,” which was “in flagrant violation of Lafarge’s Code of Conduct.”
Almost 1,000 plaintiffs, most of them army households, are a part of earlier litigation within the Jap District of New York.
“They have been killed in Syria by a ugly terrorist group that was funded partially by Lafarge. And that’s not an allegation. That’s undisputed reality. Lafarge pled responsible to doing that in 2022.”
Todd Toral, the lawyer from Jenner & Block, is representing Stacy and about 25 different households.
Toral, who can also be a US Marine, is looking for compensation for these households from the $777 million Lafarge paid to the Justice Division as a part of the settlement. The DOJ has had that cash since Oct 2022.
“I believe the ruling by the courtroom in France is critical usually, as a result of it’s the primary time in lots of, a few years {that a} company, and never simply the company, however executives at a company have been held to account for his or her misconduct in aiding terrorism,” Toral mentioned in an interview with Fox.
To be able to function in ISIS-controlled areas of Syria, Lafarge paid greater than $6.5 million to ISIS from 2013–2014 via its Syrian subsidiary to maintain manufacturing services working.
The cement produced at its manufacturing unit in Jalabiya, a manufacturing unit which was purchased for $680 million months earlier than the Syrian rebellion started in 2011, was additionally used for tunnels and bunkers, which helped the terrorist group.
The lawsuit is critical as a result of it marks the primary time an organization has confronted U.S. expenses for supporting a terrorist group.
In October 2022, Lafarge settled with the DOJ earlier than the French ruling, paying greater than $777 million into an asset forfeiture fund at the moment managed by the DOJ, funds that are imagined to compensate victims of the ISIS assaults, a lot of them American Gold Star households, like Hailey Dayton, whose father was the primary American killed by ISIS in Syria on Thanksgiving Day 2016.
“I used to be 15 when my dad was killed,” Hailey Dayton instructed Fox from her dwelling in Florida. “I noticed six guys in Navy white step out of the van. I obtained so excited as a result of I assumed my dad got here again to shock us. I bear in mind opening the door, enormous smile on my face, and I used to be wanting on the males, looking for my dad and I didn’t discover, I didn’t see him, however as an alternative I noticed six guys with tears of their eyes.”
The Biden Justice Division denied requests to distribute the Lafarge funds whereas the case was nonetheless pending earlier than a French Courtroom. Lafarge was discovered responsible by that courtroom in April.
In February, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., pressed then-Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi on when the DOJ deliberate to launch the funds to the households.
“In February 2025, my colleagues and I despatched you a letter urging the division to evaluation the petitions for remission submitted by the households of these fallen service members, together with a number of of my constituents. The earlier administration ignored these victims and our requests and left their petitions unresolved,” Biggs requested Bondi throughout a Congressional listening to.
“Congressman, we’re conscious of that and we’re dedicated to doing all the pieces we will to assist the victims and work with you. Thanks for that query,” Bondi replied. That was greater than a yr in the past and the DOJ has nonetheless not distributed the compensation funds.
Now the plaintiffs, most of them army households, say the choice to launch the funds rests with Performing Legal professional Normal Todd Blanche.
“I don’t know why. I don’t know why they’re ignoring us. To me, it seems like being a pawn. My dad, he went in when he was 19, he served 23 years,” Dayton, the Gol Star daughter of Chief Petty Officer Scott Dayton, mentioned.
“To the present Division of Justice, I might, say, make issues proper.”
Lindsey Stacy, who says she and her household have issue making ends meet given Kenton Stacy’s extreme accidents, added, “There’s quite a lot of households on the market that might profit from these funds. I imply, it’s been nearly 9 years. It will be good to, , for justice to be served.”
“They’ve been convicted lately in their very own nation, responsible. It has been an extended battle, nevertheless it’d be good only for it to return to an finish, get some closure and be capable to simply maintain our household,” she added. “I imply he made an enormous sacrifice for our nation and it could simply be good in the event that they’d stand proper by us and all the opposite co-plaintiffs.”
“We will consider no group of people who find themselves extra worthy of receiving compensation from that sufferer’s compensation fund than these households who misplaced a son, misplaced a brother, misplaced a husband, they usually need to be handled higher by america of America,” Toral, who continues to press his purchasers’ case mentioned in an interview forward of Memorial Day Weekend.
The Division of Justice, which controls the $777 million {dollars} in penalties forfeited by Lafarge, issued the next assertion:
“The Division is dedicated to compensating all victims to the utmost extent permitted by legislation. Whereas we can’t touch upon a pending matter, the Division will at all times interact within the acceptable course of to judge claims and be sure that our courageous servicemembers obtain any quantity of compensation to which they’re entitled.”
