Kreindler Files Ashton et al v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Since 2001, Kreindler has been relentless in its dedication to representing thousands of Americans and their families who were injured or killed as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2017, after leading the fight for Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) and the right to hold a foreign sponsor of terrorism responsible for its action, Kreindler filed the lawsuit, Ashton et al v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Kreindler partner Jim Kreindler leads our firm's effort for the wrongful death and personal injury cases. Kreindler partner Andrew Maloney focuses his work on the case and along with Kreindler partner Megan Wolfe Benett and Kreindler Of counsel attorney Steve Pounian, the firm has worked tirelessly advocating for JASTA’s passage and finally, justice for thousands of families impacted by 9/11.
Summary of Key Events Since We Filed Suit
September 10, 2025
Watch Senator Richard Blumenthal at the 2025 Global Summit on Terrorism and Political Violence
In a historic ruling, United States District Judge George B. Daniels has denied Saudi Arabia’s motion to dismiss our case against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ruled that the Plaintiffs are entitled to prove their claims at trial.
In the more than 700 pages of recently released FBI documents there was additional evidence revealed in regard to Ashton et al v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including information that the Department of Justice had previously withheld as classified.
September 3, 2021
With the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001 nearing, President Biden is honoring a campaign trail campaign commitment made to 9/11 families. Biden signed an Executive Order calling for a review of classified documents related to the investigations into the September 11th terrorist attacks.
A complaint was filed by Kreindler with the Department of Justice Inspector General seeking an investigation into FBI misconduct and an allegation into the FBI destroying or concealing documents.
Close to 1,800 members of the 9/11 community, including many Kreindler clients released a statement requesting President Biden not attend any of the 20th anniversary events in New York, Shanksville, PA and at the Pentagon, if he does not release the classified documents that have been kept secret by the government keeping Americans and families of the 9/11 victims "from learning the full truth about the 9/11 attacks."
March 19, 2021
Kreindler & Kreindler continues deposing former and current Saudi government officials who provided assistance to the 9/11 hijackers who were based in California. Among those we were authorized to depose are specific officials who worked in the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles, the Embassy in Washington D.C. and Saudi Ministers working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The authorization to depose these individuals is unprecedented, marking an important step in piercing the Saudi cloak of secrecy.
February 2, 2021
The firm has obtained Saudi government officials' testimony relating to their activities in support of the 9/11 plot. While we were able to depose two high-level Saudi officials believed to have given support to the hijackers based out of California, the content from the depositions is currently under seal at the demand of Saudi Arabia.
Kreindler will continue moving forward with additional depositions and has obtained useful information from those we have already deposed. We are still fighting for access to additional classified materials regarding Saudi officials that continue to be suppressed under state secrets privilege cited by the Trump administration's Deptartment of Justice.
October 7, 2020
If I am elected, I intend to be a President for all Americans, and will hear all of their voices. The 9/11 Families are right to seek full truth and accountability.
Presidential candidate Joe Biden responded to 9/11 family attorney and Partner Jim Kreindler in a letter about our efforts to declassify critical 9/11 documents.
"If I am elected, I intend to be a President for all Americans, and will hear all of their voices. The 9/11 Families are right to seek full truth and accountability.
I understand that, despite pledges to assist the families in their search for the truth, the Trump Administration has continued to prevent it from emerging. Instead, Attorney General Barr has invoked the state secrets privilege to prevent the discovery by the families of FBI information that could shed light on actions that Saudi officials may have taken to assist the hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks."
September 10, 2020
No court has ever ordered a foreign nation to produce its highest-ranking ministers to provide testimony — let alone members of a royal family.
In an unprecedented move, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York released a redacted version of its August 27, 2020 decision ordering the depositions of key Saudi Arabian government officials.
In the order to sit for depositions are some of the most important officials ordered by the court, including three Saudi princes and two Saudi officials whose names and involvement in the 9/11 plot have not been publicly released before, Musaed al-Jarrah and Abdullah al-Jaithen.
A U.S. court has never previously ordered such high-ranking government officials to appear for a deposition.
This is a groundbreaking decision, and we hope it signifies a turning point in the pursuit of truth and justice for the 9/11 community.
March 26, 2020
In an effort to protect witnesses in the lawsuit against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ruled in favor of the 9/11 families.
During last month's hearing in Manhattan, 9/11 families' attorney and Kreindler partner Andrew “Duke” Maloney attempted to show a pattern of witness intimidation over the course of the lawsuit against the Kingdom. Maloney recounted specific threats to potential witnesses and disclosed that one of their investigators had a meeting with Jamal Khashoggi the Washington Post journalist who had been murdered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey less than a year before. Judge Netburn ordered specific details of the alleged witness intimidation that was to only be seen by her. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia attorneys filed motions attempting to strike the claims of intimidation from the record and requested the release of the witnesses’ names in order to investigate.
Maloney met privately with Judge Netburn after the hearing and shared documentation of the alleged acts of witness intimidation in the case against the kingdom. Judge Netburn denied both of the kingdom's motions and ordered that the 9/11 families’ lawyers were to “share information with her under seal about any efforts to inform the Department of Justice about the alleged acts of intimidation.”
The Department of Justice told the court the FBI will start to produce previously classified documents, including some that we requested. The document production will be in three "tranches" of document production, with the final group expected in January 2019.
September 2018
The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a resolution calling for the declassification of the United States government's documents related to 9/11.
August 2018
A petition driven by 9/11 families effort to declassify the 9/11 documents gets over 12,000 signatures.
September 2018
9/11 family member Kathy Owens and partner Jim Kreindler appear on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight to talk about the effort to declassify important 9/11 investigation documents.
April 2018
A demand for discovery is filed by the plaintiffs.
March 2018
Saudi Arabia's motion to dismiss is denied by Judge Daniels who also rules that the plaintiffs may conduct limited jurisdictional discovery of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
August 2017
A motion to dismiss is filed by Saudi Arabia.
June 2017
An amended complaint adding more than 10,000 plaintiffs to the lawsuit is filed by Kreindler.
March 2017
Kreindler & Kreindler LLP files a law suit against the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia on behalf of victims of 9/11.
Jim Kreindler leads the Kreindler team of attorneys, investigators and other professionals who have worked tirelessly on the case for years. In addition to Jim Kreindler, Kreindler attorneys Megan Wolfe Benett, Steve Pounian and Andrew Maloney devote a significant amount of their law practice to the case.
No court has ever ordered a foreign nation to produce its highest-ranking ministers to provide testimony — let alone members of a royal family.
