SOURCE Sparacino PLLC

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 200 American victims of terrorism and their families filed a lawsuit yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against British American Tobacco p.l.c. and its Singaporean subsidiary (together, "BAT" or "Defendants"), alleging the Defendants knowingly financed and enabled North Korea's ("DPRK") development and proliferation of the ballistic missiles used in terrorist attacks against Americans. 

The complaint alleges that from at least 2007 through 2017, the Defendants operated a clandestine cigarette manufacturing joint venture with a North Korean government-owned entity that the U.S. government designated in 2010 for "facilitating North Korean trafficking in arms."  As alleged, despite publicly claiming in 2007 that it was no longer involved in North Korea tobacco sales, BAT covertly supplied valuable business equipment and inputs to the very North Korean entities that were sending weapons to terrorists.  This scheme allegedly generated hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit revenue that funded and enabled North Korea's weapons programs and its joint missile development and proliferation efforts with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ("IRGC") and Hizballah.

According to the complaint, North Korea is among the most heavily sanctioned regimes in the world because it is a leading proliferator of weapons of mass destruction, including ballistic missiles.  For decades, as alleged, North Korea has collaborated with the IRGC and Hizballah to develop, proliferate, and deploy missiles and rockets in the Middle East.  This North Korea-IRGC-Hizballah joint weapons effort allegedly produced the specific missiles used to harm the Plaintiffs-including Qiam- and Fateh-class ballistic missiles.

The victims' claims arise from missile strikes on two air bases in Iraq on January 8, 2020, which were part of the IRGC's coordinated retaliation for the United States' counterterrorism strike on former IRGC Commander Qasem Soleimani.  The victims' claims also arise from the September 28, 2022 missile attack in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq that killed at least 13 people-including one U.S. national, whose family resides in the Eastern District of Virginia-and wounded many others, including schoolchildren.  The Plaintiffs include American servicemembers and civilians who were severely injured in those attacks, as well as family members of the U.S. national who was killed.

In 2023, BAT's subsidiary pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to violate sanctions, and BAT entered into a settlement and deferred prosecution agreement related to the same charges.  The Defendants also agreed to pay a total of $629 million in penalties and fines-an enforcement action that was described by the U.S. Department of Justice as the largest North Korea sanctions penalty in the history of the Justice Department.

The Defendants' long-running scheme allegedly funded and enabled North Korea's weapons programs.  For example, the U.S. Department of the Treasury determined that BAT's violations "helped North Korea establish and operate a cigarette manufacturing business-a sector that has reportedly netted over $1 billion per year for the Government of the DPRK," which is "known to use funds generated through international trade to support its nuclear and missile programs."  The Justice Department's National Security Division leader confirmed to Congress in December 2023 that BAT's business in North Korea resulted "in approximately $418 million of banking transactions, generating revenue used to advance North Korea's weapons program." 

"This case alleges a clear nexus between BAT's clandestine scheme in North Korea and the weapons used in deadly terrorist attacks," said Ryan Sparacino, Sparacino PLLC's Managing Partner.  "For at least a decade, BAT allegedly funded and enabled North Korea's weapons programs and its joint weapons venture with the IRGC and Hizballah, while knowing-or recklessly disregarding-that those weapons would be used to attack Americans."

"The devastating harm caused by terrorist violence does not fade with time-families carry it every day," said Raj Parekh, the former Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Partner at Sparacino PLLC.  "This case is about pursuing justice for American servicemembers, civilians, and their loved ones, and about seeking accountability for conduct that allegedly enabled the terrorist attacks against them."

The lawsuit was filed by the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Sparacino PLLC, under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2333, as amended by the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act ("JASTA").  The statute authorizes civil damages for U.S. nationals injured by acts of international terrorism, including aiding-and-abetting claims against defendants who knowingly provided substantial assistance to such acts.

The claims asserted in the lawsuit are allegations only; there has been no determination of civil liability.

The case is captioned Shiwa Nahadi, et al. v. British American Tobacco p.l.c., et al., No. 1:26-cv-274 (E.D. Va.).

The Complaint is available at: https://sparacinopllc.com/nahadi

Media contact: [email protected]

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