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Terrorists’ Gaming of Securities Markets a Serious Threat, Say Analysts
By Brian Orsak
printIn the days following the September 11, 2001, attacks, reports circulated that al Qaeda members had earlier sold airline stocks short, betting the share prices would fall, so they could profit from their acts of terror. Though federal investigators could find no evidence of such activity, they began to take seriously the possibility that terrorist groups might manipulate securities markets to fund their operations, says Michael Jacobson, an analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "People within the [Sept. 11] Commission looked at this with an open mind," said Jacobson, a former senior advisor in the Treasury Department's...
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