Judge finds Iran responsible for Robert Levinson’s kidnapping in $1.5B lawsuit

Exactly 13 years after Robert Levinson was abducted in Iran, a federal judge found the Iranian government responsible for kidnapping and torturing the former FBI agent who, if he is still alive, is the longest-held American hostage.

“This case, brought by Levinson’s family against the Islamic Republic of Iran for his hostage taking and torture under the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, is largely about whether it was the Iranian regime that committed these barbarous acts,” U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly ruled on Monday. “The Court finds, in no uncertain terms, that it was.”

Levinson’s family, including his wife, Christine, and their seven children, filed a lawsuit against Tehran in 2017 after the husband and father had been missing for a decade. They sought $150 million in compensation as well as another $150 million per family member in punitive damages from Iran’s government, for a total of $1.5 billion.

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