Prosecutors sue to recover life insurance
held by San Bernardino shooter
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[June 01, 2016]
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Federal
prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture action on Tuesday seeking to seize
the proceeds of two life insurance policies held by Syed Rizwan Farook,
who with his wife killed 14 people in a shooting rampage in San
Bernardino, California.
Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 27, died in a shootout
with police hours after the massacre last December at the Inland
Regional Center social services center where he worked.
Authorities have said the couple were inspired by Islamic extremism
and have called the shootings the deadliest such incident on U.S.
soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Twenty-one people were
wounded.
According to the complaint for forfeiture, Farook obtained two life
insurance policies through his job with San Bernardino County, one
in 2012 for $25,000 and one in 2013 for $250,000. He named his
mother, Rafia Farook, as the primary beneficiary of that coverage.
"Terrorists must not be permitted to provide for their designated
beneficiaries through their crimes," U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker
said in announcing the lawsuit.
"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," Decker said. "We will continue to use every tool
available to seek justice on behalf of the victims of the San
Bernardino terrorist attacks."
The Minnesota Life Insurance Group, which according to prosecutors,
issued the policies, could not immediately be reached for comment on
Tuesday afternoon.
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Syed Rizwan Farook is pictured in this undated handout photo
provided by the FBI, December 4, 2015. REUTERS/FBI/Handout via
Reuters
A former neighbor of Farook, Enrique Marquez, has been indicted on
charges of furnishing assault rifles to the couple as well as
conspiring with Farook in a previous plot. He has pleaded not guilty
and is awaiting trial.
In March, the U.S. Department of Justice unlocked the iPhone used by
Farook with the help of an unidentified third party after Apple Inc
<AAPL.O> refused to bypass the device's encryption features.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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