Golf news: LIV building ‘chilling’ dossier on families of 9/11 victims
The families of 9/11 victims say they fear for their safety after it was claimed that the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf is building “an intelligence file” on them.
A court filing by the PGA Tour’s PR firm - Clout Public Affairs - on Tuesday suggests that LIV Golf is using the discovery phase of its antitrust lawsuit to gather the dossier on relatives of victims of the terror attacks who have made anti-Saudi statements. LIV Golf previously claimed that the PGA Tour funded protests by 9/11 groups at its events in its maiden year.
Brett Eagleson, the president of 9/11 Justice, who lost his father in the World Trade Center attacks, said: “It’s pretty chilling and a lot of family members have reached out because they are fearing for their safety. The Saudis have a reputation of bullying, intimidating, hacking and cutting people’s heads off. Nobody has been held accountable for 9/11 but here we are, 21 years later, and now we are the bad boys.”
The Times has approached LIV for comment.
The 9/11 attacks in the United States in September 2001 killed almost 3,000 people and declassified US intelligence has suggested links between Saudi nationals and the terrorists. Fifteen of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. The Clout PA filing states: “LIV has brazenly hired a firm in the United States to track and monitor the activities of these 9/11 victims and families, while simultaneously, through the underlying lawsuit, using antitrust discovery to now sift Clout’s communications with these families, even if they have nothing to do with LIV, golf or golfers.”
This was a response to LIV Golf filing a memorandum of law in the US District Court of DC last month, demanding Clout PA submit to a subpoena and hand over all correspondence with the PGA Tour.
That document accused the PGA Tour of “secretly fomenting the very anti-Saudi sentiment that it now uses to justify its illegal conduct”. The American Tour was also said to have orchestrated a “clandestine campaign” and exploited a tragic hit-and-run incident involving a Saudi national to generate negative headlines. Most damningly, the LIV court document accused the Tour and Clout PA of orchestrating 9/11 protests outside LIV events and “apparently” organising tax-exempt organisations to funnel resources to the effort.
Eagleson said that he had independently recruited Clout PA to work for 9/11 Justice on a range of issues and that he had contacted the PGA Tour last year, rather than vice versa, because they shared the same “enemy”.
Other, longer-established groups have also protested at LIV Golf tournaments, notably 9/11 Families United, which represents thousands of families and survivors. A fortnight ago it called on Augusta National to “reconsider their open-door policy to the LIV golfers” and promised to protest at the Masters in April if the club failed to do so.
Meanwhile, Henrik Stenson is due to play on the DP World Tour for the first time since losing the Ryder Cup captaincy over his move to LIV Golf.
The 46-year-old Swede has appeared only on the LIV circuit since missing the cut at the Open Championship in July but is in the field for the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi, starting on January 19.
Originally published as Golf news: LIV building ‘chilling’ dossier on families of 9/11 victims
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