Ex-congressman Cantor subpoenaed in Bank of China case
Former majority leader called to testify in civil terror case in New York
A federal court allowed plaintiffs in a terrorism money laundering case against the Bank of China to subpoena Eric Cantor, the former majority leader in the US House of Representatives.
Cantor (R-Va.), who resigned Congress in August after his defeat in a primary election, will be deposed September 30, as ordered by the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, the New York Observer reported Monday.
Nitsana Darshan Leitner, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs in the case, told the New York Observer that she wanted Cantor’s testimony because he had in 2013 discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Israel’s refusal to allow a former Israeli intelligence official to testify in the case.
Uzi Shaya, the former intelligence official, according to reports alerted Chinese security officials in 2005 to suspicious transactions, including transfers of money to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Israel says if Shaya is forced to testify, he could reveal state secrets.
Cantor’s cousin is Daniel Wultz, an American teenager killed in a 2006 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
Wultz’s family is one of 23 families filing lawsuits accusing the Bank of China of funding terrorist organizations through US accounts; Darshan Leitner, along with her organization, Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, is representing the family of another victim, Emil Almaliakh.
