Three U.S. companies funded terror in Iraq, a group of Iraq War veterans claims in a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday accusing U.S. drug and medical device corporations of providing supplies to a Shiite militia responsible for killing and wounding hundreds of U.S. soldiers, The New York Times reported.
The lawsuit states that five drug companies conducting business with the Iraqi government made free drugs and medical devices available during the peak of the Iraq war, knowing that these supplies could end up with the Shiite militia.
The companies named in the lawsuit are: American firms General Electric, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer and European drugmakers AstraZeneca and Roche Holding A.G.
NBC News noted that the companies stand accused of paying bribes to Iraqi health ministry officials, which directly benefited Iranian-backed militia working in conjunction with Hezbollah, a Lebanese group that U.S. government has deemed a terrorist organization.
The lawsuit alleges that the corporations sold millions of dollars’ worth of drugs and medical devices to Iraq and, as a cost of doing business, were willing to pay bribes in the form of "free goods" that officials then sold on the black market.
This was done with full knowledge that the money generated form the bribes could be used to fund a dangerous armed faction.
More than 100 plaintiffs are included in the lawsuit, which is being waged by attorneys from the litigation firm of Kellogg Hansen and a firm led by Ryan Sparacino, Fox News noted.
Commenting on the legal challenge, Josh Branson, who is a Kellogg Hansen partner, said per Fox News that "while Americans worked to rebuild Iraq, many were attacked by a terrorist group that we allege has been funded in part by the defendants’ corrupt sales practices."
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