Was 9/11 An Insurance Scam?

2977 innocent people died on 9/11. Nothing can express the loss experienced by the families of the victims. One man, however, made several billion dollars in insurance from the destruction of the World trade center. That man is property magnate Larry Silverstein. Known as ‘Lucky Larry’, conspiracy theorists believe he was aware of the terror attack before they ever happened.

The World Trade Center was publicly owned until July 24^th, 2001, when Larry Silverstien acquired theleasehold of building 1, 2, 4 and 5- including the Twin Towers. The deal gave Silverstein the World Trade Center for 99 years, and was worth $3.2 billion. The terms of the lease also meant he was entitled and obliged the World Trade Center should the building be destroyed. Silverstien immediately drew up new insurance policies for the World Trade Center, with 23 different insurance companies. Together, the policies covered the buildings to the tune of $3.55 billion. Most significantly, Silverstien changed the standard policy on the building to include a clause covering the occurrence of a terrorist attack.

Just  such an attack happened on September 11^th, 2001-fewer than two months after Silverstein took out the new insurance policy. Peculiarly, Silverstien should have been in the Twin Towers when the planes hit. Silverstien ate at the windows of the world restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower every morning- except on September 11^th. Silverstien says he had a doctor’s appointment instead. In fact, by his own admission, he never left his house. Furthermore, his two children were also due to have separate work meetings in the Twin Towers but they both were running late and avoided the attacks. In addition, while firefighters battled to save the neighbouring Building 7. Silverstein ordered them to ‘pull it’, letting the building collapse.

The scholars for 9/11 Truth argue that Silverstien actually had prior knowledge of the terror attacks. Much like the CIA warned the President about an incoming Al Qaeda attack, and had sufficient information to catch the hijackers before their plan was underway, conspiracy theorist believe Silverstien could have been party to warning of the September attack. They say Silverstien used his advanced knowledge to seize the opportunity to buy the first private lease on the World Trade Center, in order to benefit from the world’s biggest insurance scam.

In the aftermath of 9/11, while the world mourned, Silverstein put in a claim for $7.1 billion payouts from his insurers, on the basis that there has been two separate attacks and he was therefore entitled to double the $3.55 billion coverage provided by the policy. After a long battle lasting several years, Silverstien finally won $4.55 billion from the insurers. This money would be used to rebuild the skyscrapers. Silverstein fulfilled the obligations of his lease and constructed One World Trade Center on the site of the Twin Towers. It cost $3.9 billion and was completed in July 2013. However, when the new building was finished, Silverstein sued the airline whose planes were hijacked on 9/11 for another $3.5 billion, claiming that their negligence led to the destruction of the World Trade Center. The judge ruled against him.

Silverstien’s critics claim he has shamelessly tried to profit from one of the worst human tragedies n history. Conspiracy theorists claim that his  profiteering was prompted by prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks. Lucky Larry has denied that he had any awareness of the attacks until they happened. The redevelopment of the whole World Trade Center site has cost around $15 billion. Meanwhile, Silverstien has continued to pay the annual ground rent of $100 million even while no building stood and no construction took place at ground Zero. It’s hard to see how he planned to profit from his $7.1 billion insurance claim and his $3.5 billion lawsuit against the airline, given the total cost of reconstruction. Neverthless, Silverstein’s lawsuit against the airline is still on appeal.