II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3442 

To amend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 to provide for the 

release of certain blocked assets, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 to 

provide for the release of certain blocked assets, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Terrorism Victims Pro5 tection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXECUTION OF PAYMENT. 

7 Section 201 of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 

8 2002 (28 U.S.C. 1610 note) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘subsection 

10 (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (b) and (e)’’; 


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1 (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub2 section (g); 

3 (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(d) DISCHARGE FROM LIABILITY FOR FUNDS

6 TRANSFERS.—The final order directing attachment in aid 

7 of execution or execution against an asset described in 

8 subsection (g)(3)(A)(iii), including any mid-stream elec9 tronic funds transfer to a judgment creditor under this 

10 section, shall provide that— 

11 ‘‘(1) any financial agency or financial institu12 tion ordered to attach in aid of execution or execute 

13 against any such asset that is involved in processing 

14 any transfer related to those assets shall be dis15 charged of any and all liability to any party with re16 spect to such funds transfer; 

17 ‘‘(2) for purposes of determining the liability of 

18 the originator of any mid-stream funds transfer to 

19 a terrorist party, or to the agency or instrumentality 

20 of such a terrorist party, the mid-stream funds 

21 transfer shall be treated as if it were completed and 

22 payment were received by the intended beneficiary; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(3) the terrorist party, and any agency or in25 strumentality of that terrorist party, shall be barred 


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1 from pursuing any claims related to the assets 

2 turned over pursuant to this section against any en3 tity discharged under paragraphs (1) and (2). 

4 ‘‘(e) THIRD-PARTY INTEREST IN BLOCKED AS5 SETS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para7 graph (2), if a court determines that a person other 

8 than a terrorist party or any agency or instrumen9 tality of that terrorist party holds equitable title to, 

10 or a beneficial interest in, the blocked assets of that 

11 terrorist party (including the blocked assets of any 

12 agency or instrumentality of that terrorist party) or 

13 has a constitutionally protected interest in those 

14 blocked assets, the court may make the blocked as15 sets available for execution or attachment in aid of 

16 execution under subsection (a) only to the extent 

17 that— 

18 ‘‘(A) the terrorist party or any agency or 

19 instrumentality of a terrorist party has an own20 ership interest, as described in subsection 

21 (g)(3)(A), in the blocked assets; and 

22 ‘‘(B) the execution or attachment does not 

23 infringe upon the constitutionally protected in24 terest in the assets. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

2 apply to any custodial interest of a foreign securities 

3 intermediary or a related intermediary that holds 

4 the blocked assets outside of the United States for 

5 the benefit of the Government of Iran. 

6 ‘‘(f) INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para8 graph (2)(C)— 

9 ‘‘(A) a transfer described in subsection 

10 (g)(3)(C) shall be null and void; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the asset that is the subject of the 

12 transfer shall be treated as if the asset remains 

13 in the United States. 

14 ‘‘(2) JURISDICTION.—Any court that has per15 sonal jurisdiction over the transferee of an asset de16 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) may— 

17 ‘‘(A) order the transferee to return the 

18 asset to the United States; and 

19 ‘‘(B) if the transferee fails to obey an 

20 order described in subparagraph (A)— 

21 ‘‘(i) deem any asset in an account of 

22 the transferee in the United States that is 

23 an amount not greater than the value of 

24 the transferred asset described in para25 graph (1)(B) to be an asset of a terrorist 


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1 party or any agency or instrumentality of 

2 that terrorist party; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) issue an award against the trans4 feree in an amount that is not greater than 

5 the value of the transferred asset described 

6 in paragraph (1)(B). 

7 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.—A transfer of an asset 

8 that would otherwise be null and void under 

9 paragraph (1) may not be deemed to be null 

10 and void with respect to any person who held 

11 or maintained the property before the transfer 

12 if that person establishes that— 

13 ‘‘(i) the person no longer has posses14 sion or control of the asset; 

15 ‘‘(ii) the transfer of the asset was not 

16 a willful violation by the person— 

17 ‘‘(I) of the provisions of any or18 ders or regulations issued by the 

19 United States that seized or froze as20 sets under section 5(b) of the Trading 

21 With the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 

22 4305(b)); or 

23 ‘‘(II) under sections 202 and 203 

24 of the International Emergency EcoVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Oct 04, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3442.IS S3442

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1 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 

2 and 1702); 

3 ‘‘(iii) the person did not have reason4 able cause to know or suspect, in view of 

5 all the facts and circumstances known by 

6 or available to the person— 

7 ‘‘(I) that the transfer required a 

8 license or authorization issued by the 

9 Office of Foreign Assets Control of 

10 the Department of the Treasury (in 

11 this subparagraph referred to as the 

12 ‘Office’); or 

13 ‘‘(II) that a license or authoriza14 tion described in subclause (I), if the 

15 license or authorization purports to 

16 cover the transfer, had been obtained 

17 by— 

18 ‘‘(aa) the misrepresentation 

19 of a third party; 

20 ‘‘(bb) withholding material 

21 facts; or 

22 ‘‘(cc) other fraudulent 

23 means; and 

24 ‘‘(iv) the person submitted to the Of25 fice a report containing a full description 


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1 of the circumstances relating to the trans2 fer promptly upon discovering that— 

3 ‘‘(I) the transfer violated any of 

4 the provisions described in clause (ii); 

5 ‘‘(II) the transfer was not li6 censed or authorized by the Office; or 

7 ‘‘(III) if the person had obtained 

8 a license or authorization that pur9 ported to apply to the transfer, the li10 cense had been obtained under cir11 cumstances described in clause 

12 (iii)(II).’’; and 

13 (4) in subsection (g), as so redesignated— 

14 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and 

15 (4) as paragraphs (4) and (9), respectively; 

16 (B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘(3) BLOCKED ASSET OF THAT TERRORIST

19 PARTY.—The term ‘blocked assets of that terrorist 

20 party (including the blocked assets of any agency or 

21 instrumentality of that terrorist party)’ means— 

22 ‘‘(A) any blocked asset in which the ter23 rorist party or any agency or instrumentality of 

24 that terrorist party has a direct, indirect, beneVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Oct 04, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3442.IS S3442

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1 ficial, equitable, or legal ownership interest 

2 under State or Federal law, including— 

3 ‘‘(i) a financial asset beneficially 

4 owned by a terrorist party or any agency 

5 or instrumentality of that terrorist party; 

6 ‘‘(ii) any interest, sale, and redemp7 tion payment related to a financial asset 

8 described in clause (i) that is received in 

9 an account maintained in the United 

10 States at a financial agency or financial in11 stitution regardless of where the terrorist 

12 party or any agency or instrumentality of 

13 that terrorist party maintains an account 

14 in the name to which the financial asset 

15 has been credited; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) a transfer of funds, including 

17 any mid-stream electronic funds transfer in 

18 possession of an intermediary bank if— 

19 ‘‘(I) the terrorist party or any 

20 agency or instrumentality of the ter21 rorist party is the originator or the 

22 beneficiary of the fund transfer; or 

23 ‘‘(II) the transfer was conducted 

24 for the direct or indirect benefit of the 

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1 strumentality of that terrorist party, 

2 including the central bank or mone3 tary authority of the terrorist party, 

4 regardless of whether the transfer was 

5 initiated by a non-state-owned, non6 U.S. financial institution located out7 side of the United States and only 

8 passes through the financial system of 

9 the United States to another non10 state-owned, non-U.S. financial insti11 tution located outside of the United 

12 States; 

13 ‘‘(B) any asset located outside the United 

14 States that, if located in the United States, 

15 would be subject to an order or regulation seiz16 ing or freezing assets under section 5(b) of the 

17 Trading With the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 

18 4305(b)) or sections 202 and 203 of the Inter19 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

20 U.S.C. 1701 and 1702), if a court in the 

21 United States has personal jurisdiction over the 

22 person in possession or custody of the asset lo23 cated outside the United States; and 

24 ‘‘(C) any attempted direct or indirect 

25 transfer from an account located in the United 


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1 States to an account located outside of the 

2 United States that— 

3 ‘‘(i) relates to any financial asset de4 scribed in subparagraph (A); and 

5 ‘‘(ii) is for the direct or indirect ben6 efit of the terrorist party or any agency or 

7 instrumentality of the terrorist party, re8 gardless of whether the transfer is com9 pleted by a book entry, a wire transfer, or 

10 any other means.’’; and 

11 (C) by inserting after paragraph (4), as so 

12 redesignated, the following: 

13 ‘‘(5) FINANCIAL AGENCY.—The term ‘financial 

14 agency’ has the meaning given the term in section 

15 5312(a) of title 31, United States Code. 

16 ‘‘(6) FINANCIAL ASSET.—The term ‘financial 

17 asset’— 

18 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 

19 Article 8–102 of the Uniform Commercial Code; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(B) includes cash. 

22 ‘‘(7) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘fi23 nancial institution’ has the meaning given the term 

24 in section 5312(a) of title 31, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘(8) INTERMEDIARY BANK.—The term ‘inter2 mediary bank’ has the meaning given the term in 

3 Article 4A–104 of the Uniform Commercial Code.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. EXCEPTIONS TO THE IMMUNITY FROM ATTACH5 MENT OR EXECUTION. 

6 Section 1610 of title 28, United States Code, is 

7 amended by striking subsection (g) and inserting the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(g) PROPERTY IN CERTAIN ACTIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

11 ‘‘(A) the term ‘financial agency’ has the 

12 meaning given the term in section 5312(a) of 

13 title 31; 

14 ‘‘(B) the term ‘financial asset’— 

15 ‘‘(i) has the meaning given the term 

16 in Article 8–102 of the Uniform Commer17 cial Code; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) includes cash; 

19 ‘‘(C) the term ‘financial institution’ has 

20 the meaning given the term in section 5312(a) 

21 of title 31; 

22 ‘‘(D) the term ‘intermediary bank’ has the 

23 meaning given the term in Article 4A–104 of 

24 the Uniform Commercial Code; and 


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1 ‘‘(E) the term ‘property of a foreign state 

2 against which a judgment is entered under sec3 tion 1605A, and the property of an agency or 

4 instrumentality of such a state’ includes— 

5 ‘‘(i) a financial asset beneficially 

6 owned by a terrorist party or its agency or 

7 instrumentality; 

8 ‘‘(ii) any interest, sale, and redemp9 tion payment related to a financial asset 

10 described in clause (i) that is received in 

11 an account maintained in the United 

12 States at a financial agency or financial in13 stitution regardless of where the terrorist 

14 party or its agency or instrumentality 

15 maintains an account in its name to which 

16 the financial asset has been credited; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) a transfer of funds, including 

18 any mid-stream electronic funds transfer in 

19 possession of an intermediary bank if— 

20 ‘‘(I) such terrorist party or its 

21 agency or instrumentality is the origi22 nator or the beneficiary of the fund 

23 transfer; or 

24 ‘‘(II) the transfer was conducted 

25 for the direct or indirect benefit of 


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1 such terrorist party or its agency or 

2 instrumentality, including the central 

3 bank or monetary authority of the ter4 rorist party, regardless of whether the 

5 transfer was initiated by a non-state6 owned, non-U.S. financial institution 

7 located outside of the United States 

8 and only passes through the financial 

9 system of the United States to an10 other non-state-owned, non-U.S. fi11 nancial institution located outside of 

12 the United States. 

13 ‘‘(2) TRANSFERS NULL AND VOID.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

15 subparagraph (C), any attempted direct or indi16 rect transfer from an account located in the 

17 United States to an account located outside of 

18 the United States shall be null and void, and 

19 the asset that is the subject of the transfer 

20 shall be treated as if the asset remains in the 

21 United States, if the transfer— 

22 ‘‘(i) relates to any financial asset de23 scribed in paragraph (1)(E); 

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1 strumentality of that foreign state, regard2 less of whether the transfer is completed 

3 by means of a book entry, wire transfer, or 

4 otherwise; and 

5 ‘‘(iii) violates any court order, retrain6 ing notice, judgment lien, or other process 

7 in aid of enforcement of, or that con8 stitutes a fraudulent conveyance or trans9 fer with respect to, a judgment under sec10 tion 1605A against that foreign state or 

11 the agency or instrumentality of that for12 eign state. 

13 ‘‘(B) JURISDICTION.—A court that has 

14 personal jurisdiction over the transferee of a 

15 transfer described in subparagraph (A) may— 

16 ‘‘(i) order the transferee to return the 

17 financial asset to the United States; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) if the transferee fails to obey an 

19 order under clause (i)— 

20 ‘‘(I) deem any asset that is an 

21 amount not greater than the value of 

22 the transferred asset to be an asset of 

23 a foreign state or an agency or instru24 mentality of the foreign state; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) issue an award against the 

2 transferee in an amount that is not 

3 greater than the value of the trans4 ferred asset. 

5 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION.—Any transfer that oth6 erwise would be null and void under subpara7 graph (A) shall not be deemed to be null and 

8 void if the person who held or maintained the 

9 asset that was the subject of the transfer estab10 lishes that the transfer did not represent a will11 ful violation of the provisions of any court 

12 order, retraining notice, judgment lien, or other 

13 process in aid of enforcement of a judgment 

14 under section 1605A against a foreign state or 

15 an agency or instrumentality of that foreign 

16 state. 

17 ‘‘(3) APPLICABLE PROPERTY.—Subject to para18 graph (4) and notwithstanding any other provision 

19 of law, including any provision of law relating to sov20 ereign immunity and the provisions of section 1611, 

21 the property of a foreign state against which a judg22 ment is entered under section 1605A or under sec23 tion 1605(a)(7) (as such section was in effect on 

24 January 27, 2008), and the property of an agency 

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1 erty that is a separate juridical entity or is an inter2 est held directly or indirectly in a separate juridical 

3 entity, is subject to attachment in aid of execution, 

4 and execution, upon that judgment as provided in 

5 this subsection, regardless of— 

6 ‘‘(A) the level of economic control over the 

7 property by the government of the foreign state; 

8 ‘‘(B) whether the profits of the property go 

9 to that government; 

10 ‘‘(C) the degree to which officials of that 

11 government manage the property or otherwise 

12 control its daily affairs; 

13 ‘‘(D) whether that government is the sole 

14 beneficiary in interest of the property; or 

15 ‘‘(E) whether establishing the property as 

16 a separate entity would entitle the foreign state 

17 to benefits in United States courts while avoid18 ing its obligations. 

19 ‘‘(4) UNITED STATES SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY IN20 APPLICABLE.—Any property of a foreign state, or 

21 agency or instrumentality of a foreign state, to 

22 which paragraph (1) applies shall not be immune 

23 from attachment in aid of execution, or execution, 

24 upon a judgment entered under section 1605A or 

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1 fect on January 27, 2008), because the property is 

2 regulated by the United States Government by rea3 son of action taken against that foreign state under 

4 the Trading With the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 4301 

5 et seq.) or the International Emergency Economic 

6 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 

7 ‘‘(5) THIRD-PARTY JOINT PROPERTY HOLD8 ERS.—Nothing in this subsection shall be construed 

9 to supersede the authority of a court to prevent ap10 propriately the impairment of an interest held by a 

11 person who is not liable in the action giving rise to 

12 a judgment in property subject to attachment in aid 

13 of execution, or execution, upon such judgment. 

14 ‘‘(6) DISCHARGE FROM LIABILITY.—The final 

15 judgment directing attachment in aid of execution or 

16 execution against an asset described in paragraph 

17 (1)(E)(iii), including any mid-stream electronic 

18 funds transfer to a judgment creditor under this sec19 tion shall provide that— 

20 ‘‘(A) any financial agency or financial in21 stitution ordered to attach in aid of execution 

22 or execute against any such asset that is in23 volved in processing any transfer related to 

24 those assets shall be discharged of any and all 


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1 liability to any party with respect to such funds 

2 transfer; 

3 ‘‘(B) for purposes of determining the liabil4 ity of the originator of any mid-stream funds 

5 transfer to a foreign state against which a judg6 ment has been entered under section 1605A or 

7 under section 1605(a)(7) (as such section was 

8 in effect on January 27, 2008), or to the agen9 cy or instrumentality of such a state, the mid10 stream transfer shall be treated as if it were 

11 completed and payment were received by the in12 tended beneficiary; and 

13 ‘‘(C) the foreign state against which a 

14 judgment has been entered under section 

15 1605A or under section 1605(a)(7) (as such 

16 section was in effect on January 27, 2008), and 

17 each agency and instrumentality of such a state 

18 shall be barred from pursuing any claim related 

19 to the assets turned over pursuant to this sub20 section against any entity discharged pursuant 

21 to subparagraphs (A) and (B). 

22 ‘‘(7) STATE PREEMPTION.—To the extent that 

23 any State or local law is inconsistent with the re24 quirements of this subsection, the requirements of 


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1 this subsection shall preempt such State or local 

2 law.’’. 

Æ 


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