Lafarge Plead Guilty to Paying Off ISIS, Fined $780 Million as Penalty

A multinational cement company, Lafarge has reached a $780 million criminal plea agreement with the United States Department of Justice for providing material support to the dreaded group, ISIS.

Lafarge admitted it paid a sum of $10.24 million to ISIS between August 2013 to October 2014. 

The money was paid by the company to the terror group, Islamic State (ISIS) to keep its cement plant operating in Syria.

Northern Syria, where the company’s cement plant was located was held by the terrorist group. 

Similarly, the evidence presented by the Justice Department showed that Lafarge had extensive dealings with a number of terror groups responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. 

According to a statement of facts unsealed on Tuesday at the federal court in Brooklyn, executives at Lafarge and its Syrian subsidiary worked with intermediaries based in Syria to pay “numerous armed factions,” including the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, that controlled the area around the cement plant. 

The payments included periodic “security payments” to the armed groups and the purchase of raw materials from Islamic State-controlled suppliers.

Evidence also showed that the company entered into a revenue agreement formula which ceeded a percentage of the profit from the cement sold to the terrorist group. 

In return, the Islamic State permitted access to raw materials sourced from its territory and allowed Lafarge employees, suppliers and distributors to pass safely through checkpoints manned by the Islamic State and the Nusra Front

The U.S. Attorney Breon Peace stated that “Lafarge has admitted and taken responsibility for its staggering crime,”. 

“Never before has a corporation been charged with providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations,” he added.

Peace further noted that Lafarge did this not only exchange revenue for permission to operate its cement plant but leverage its relationship with ISIS for economic advantage, seeking ISIS’s assistance to hurt Lafarge’s competition in exchange for a cut of proceeds from sales.

Investors King learnt that a penalty of $780 million is one of the largest penalties a private corporation has ever paid for providing material support to a terrorist organization.

While commenting on the plea bargain, The chief executive of Lafarge, Magali Anderson who was also at the court stated that all those involved with the conduct are no longer with the company. 

He also noted that Lafarge “accepted responsibility for the actions of the individual executives involved, whose behaviour was in flagrant violation of Lafarge’s code of conduct.”

The United States Federal Criminal Law (Code 2339) prohibits people or businesses from harbouring or collaborating with people they know to be terrorists.