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The American University of Beirut has agreed to pay $700,000 to settle a civil lawsuit alleging that it provided material support to three organizations that the U.S. government has linked to the militant group Hezbollah.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York alleges that the university provided material support to three entities included on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list. The settlement resolves claims that the university provided training to journalists from Al Nour Radio and Al Manar TV, both of which have been on the list of sanctioned entities since March 2006, and that it included the group Jihad al-Binaa, on the OFAC list since February 2007, in a database of nongovernmental organizations that AUB maintained on its website for the purpose of connecting students interested in working with them.
The journalism training involved a series of three multiday workshops in 2007, 2008 and 2009, during which AUB allegedly provided specialized training to a group of journalists, including representatives from Al Nour Radio and Al Manar TV, according to federal prosecutors.
“For years, the American University of Beirut accepted grant money from USAID but failed to take reasonable steps to ensure against providing material support to entities on the Treasury Department’s prohibited list,” Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a statement. “Without such proper safeguards, the university ended up providing training to entities that were prohibited parties under U.S. law. With today’s settlement, the university is being made to pay a financial penalty for its conduct, and, importantly, it has admitted to its conduct and agreed to put proper precautions in place to ensure that it does not happen again.”
AUB, which receives funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, admitted that it had provided training to two entities on the sanctions list and that it had listed a third in a student database but maintained that its conduct was not "knowing, intentional or reckless." The university said it will conduct additional faculty and staff training "to ensure compliance with U.S. and Lebanese law."
