Reply #102: Blackstone / Silverstein / Enormous Insurance Scam

[DrDebug]

Financial Bonanza behind the 9/11 Tragedy:
Who are the Financial Actors behind the WTC?
by Michel Chossudovsky

www.globalresearch.ca 12 March 2004

The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca grants permission to cross- post original Global Research (Canada) articles in their entirety, or any portions thereof, on community internet sites, as long as the text and title of the article are not modified. The source must be acknowledged as follows: Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca . The active URL hyperlink address of the original Global Research (Canada) article must be used for postings and the author's copyright must be displayed. (For articles from other news sources, check with the original copyright holder, where applicable.) For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [e-mail] .

© Copyright M CHOSSUDOVSKY 2004.

The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO403B.html

This article was published in Issue 7 of Global Outlook, Spring 2004.

On October 17, 2000, eleven months before 9/11, Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, of The Blackstone Group, L.P, purchased, from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, the participating mortgage secured by World Trade Center, Building 7 (1)

April 26, 2001 the Port Authority leased the WTC for 99 years to Silverstein Properties and Westfield America Inc. The transaction was authorised by Port Authority Chairman Lewis M. Eisenberg.

This transfer from the New York and New Jersey Port Authority was tantamount to the privatisation of the WTC Complex. The official press release described it as "the richest real estate prize in New York City history". The retail space underneath the complex was leased to Westfield America Inc. (2)

On 24 July 2001, 6 weeks prior to 9/11 Silverstein took control of the lease of the WTC following the Port Authority decision on April 26.

Silverstein and Frank Lowy, CEO of Westerfield Inc. took control of the 10.6 million- square-foot WTC complex. "Lowy leased the shopping concourse called the Mall at the WTC, which comprised about 427,000 square feet of retail space." (3)

Explicitly included in the agreement was that Silverstein and Westfield "were given the right to rebuild the structures if they were destroyed". (4)

In this transaction, Silverstein signed a rental contract for the WTC over 99 years amounting to 3,2 billion dollars in installments to be made to the Port Authority: 800 million covered fees including a down payment of the order of 100 million dollars. Of this amount, Silverstein put in 14 million dollars of his own money. The annual payment on the lease was of the order of 115 million dollars. (5)

In the wake of the WTC attacks, Silverstein is suing for some $7.1 billion in insurance money, double the amount of the value of the 99 year lease. (6)

Sources:
1. Business Wire, 17 October 2000
2. See Paul Goldberger in The New Yorker, May 20, 2002.
3 C. Bollyn, "Did Rupert Murdoch Have Prior Knowledge of 9/11?" Centre for Research on Globalization, globalresearch.ca, 20 October 2003.
4. Goldberger, op cit
5, Associated Press, 22 November 2003. See also Die Welt, Berlin, Oct 11, 2001.
6. Alison Frankel, The American Lawyer, Sept 3 2002

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO403B.html

The WTC Towers Collapse: an Enormous Insurance Scam
Alberta Independent Media Centre, 11 April 2003

www.globalresearch.ca 19 December 2003

The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/WTC312A.html

On the 23rd July, 2001, just seven weeks previous to the World Trade Center demolitions, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey signed a deal with a consortium (Larry Silverstein, Westfield America Inc and Lloyd Goldman) led by Larry Silverstein for a 99 year lease of the World Trade Center complex. The leased buildings included WTCs One, Two, Four, Five and 400,000 square feet of retail space. The Marriott Hotel (WTC 3), U.S. Customs building (WTC 6) and Silverstein's own 47-story office building (WTC 7) were already under lease. Silverstein is seeking $7.2 billion from insurers for the destruction of the center. Here are few articles concerning the World Trade Center deal and consequent legal wrangle.

(...)
The two hijacked airliners that struck the 110-story twin towers Sept. 11 were separate "occurrences" for insurance purposes, entitling him to collect twice on $3.6 billion of policies, a spokesman for Mr. Silverstein said.

Companies that insured the building, including Chubb Corp., Swiss Reinsurance Co., Allianz AG, Ace Ltd. and XL Capital Ltd., said that because the attack was coordinated it counts as only a single occurrence.

(...)


The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca grants permission to cross- post original CRG articles in their entirety, or any portions thereof, on community internet sites, as long as the text and title of the article are not modified. The source must be acknowledged as follows: Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca . The active URL hyperlink address of the original CRG article and the author's copyright note must be clearly displayed. (For articles from other news sources, check with the original copyright holder, where applicable.) For publication of CRG articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [e-mail] .


http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/WTC312A.html

Ultimately Silverstein was awarded nearly $5 billion in insurance money following the destruction of the Twin Towers

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=203&aid=5...