9/11 claimants seek BTC seized from Chinese-Iranian mining pool

People harmed in the 9/11 attacks, together with their families, have submitted a statement of interest over BTC that the US government had previously taken from the LuBian.com mining pool.

That filing refers to a separate lawsuit in which the Iran and China Investment Development Group is said to have been the operator of LuBian.

For that reason, the statement of interest argues, LuBian “is an agency or instrumentality of Iran.”

As a result, the Chairnoff Claimants — the collective name for these victims — say the 127,271 BTC seized by US authorities from LuBian is covered by their claim. They “collectively hold judgments for more than $671 million in compensatory damages… against the Islamic Republic of Iran for its role in sponsoring” the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

LuBian was not an exclusively Iranian enterprise, and the US government has repeatedly described it as “a Chinese BTC mining operation,” while acknowledging that it had at least one facility in Iran.

The government maintains the funds did not originate solely from Lubian; it says they also involve money tied to Chen Zhi and Prince Holding Group, as well as transfers from centralized exchanges in addition to mining proceeds.

Several groups of claimants, among them other 9/11 victims, likewise argue they have a stake in the BTC as people affected by state-sponsored terror.