This series consists of the working files of Team 4, which investigated terrorist financing. Included are government and private sector reports, briefing materials from presentations given to Commission staff by federal agencies, documents received by the Commission from agencies, transcripts of court testimony and other court records including motions and other filings, congressional hearing transcripts, transcripts of interviews conducted by the Commission, the team's work plan, notes of Commission staff meetings and interviews, and published articles and monographs.
The records reveal the goals of government efforts in the area of terrorist financing, which were described in Team 4's staff monograph on the subject. The records show actions taken by the United States to identify and stop terrorist financing prior to and following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They also reveal how the September 11 terrorists generated and moved money to finance the terrorist plot.
Team 4 investigated the source of al Qaeda's funds. Reports from executive agencies and transcripts of interviews concern whether al Qaeda was funded by Osama Bin Ladin's inherited wealth or by donations from Islamic charities. Other records detail whether al Qaeda was involved in the diamond trade and drug trafficking and whether it profited from the September 11 attacks through insider trading of stocks.
Records received from executive agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records of interviews of bank personnel, and bank account information detail how the hijackers received and managed money while in the United States. Audit reports of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) from the Treasury Department's Office of the Inspector General show the process by which banks report suspicious activity and how the hijackers evaded detection.
The investigations of the charities al Haramain Islamic Foundation, the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), and the Global Relief Foundation (GRF) are richly detailed in the records. Notes of Commission interviews and documents received from executive agencies such as the Department of State reveal U.S. Government efforts to enlist the aid of Saudi Arabia to curtail the flow of funds from al Haramain, a prominent Saudi-based charity, to al Qaeda and related terrorist groups. Records received by the Commission from the Department of the Treasury and the FBI, as well as the records of court proceedings, illustrate the Government's efforts to close down the Illinois based charities, BIF and GRF, which were alleged to be providing financial support to terrorists. Reports from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury show the process by which organizations, suspected of terrorism, are so designated and consequently have their assets frozen.
There are also substantial records relating to the team's investigation of Al-Barakaat, an international network of money remitters, whose primary purpose was to transmit money to Somalia, a country without a banking system. Records from the FBI, Department of the Treasury, and Department of State show the Government's investigation into whether Al-Barakaat had a role in moving money for al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
Other government agencies whose reports appear in the records are the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Justice, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). Testimony before the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as testimony before other committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate relating to terrorist financing are found in the series. In addition, articles and monographs on the subject are extensive in the series.
