MM~LAW LLC

MM~LAW LLC (MM~LAW) is a Chicago-based law firm dedicated to advancing human rights law by representing victims of international terrorism, crimes against humanity, and genocide. MM~LAW has obtained over $20 billion in judgments and secured over $1.8 billion in payments for the 19,000 plus victims from 26 countries that it represents.

MM~LAW has won historic cases on behalf of:

• Survivors of the 1998 embassy bombings against State Sponsors of Terrorism, ultimately prevailing in an 8-0 U.S. Supreme Court decision;

• U.S. soldiers and Gold Star families against State Sponsors of Terrorism for supporting terror attacks in Iraq;

• American victims of terrorist attacks in Israel before and during the Al Aqsa Intifada (1995-2005) against the Arab Bank for its role in financing Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations; and

• Recently won the largest single-family judgment in the amount of $179 million for an Israeli family attacked by Palestinian terrorists.

MM~LAW’s founder, Gavriel (Gavi) Mairone, is one of the pioneers of counter-terrorism law practice and has been awarded “Trial Lawyer of the Year – 2016” by the Public Justice Foundation and is recognized by the National Trial Lawyers Association as a “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” and “Top 25 Mass Tort Lawyers.”

 History

MM~LAW is a Chicago-based law firm whose practice, since 2000, is exclusively representing victims of international terrorism, crimes against humanity, and genocide, in civil lawsuits against the transnational financial networks and profiteers that support worldwide terror organizations and the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and genocide.

MM~LAW represents over 19,000 victims from 26 countries, partnering up in each case with one or more law firms in the international network of law firms built by MM~LAW, comprising over 2,500 lawyers.

MM~LAW established a counter-terrorism research center, consisting of counter-terrorism finance and research experts holding advanced academic degrees, and former senior analysts from numerous intelligence agencies, which provides extensive and specialized operational research in Arabic, Persian, and most European languages, and has assembled an 800,000-source document database, “following the money” and tracking the international financial networks run by the terrorists and profiteers.

Judgments, Settlements and Recoveries:

 MM~LAW has obtained over $20 billion in judgments and recovered over $1.8 billion for its clients.

 Significant court judgments and settlements obtained include:

 Almog v. Arab Bank Plc, settled on behalf of American victims after a jury found the Arab Bank knowingly provided funding for Hamas attacks prior to and during the Al Aqsa Intifada in Israel (1995-2005). A similar lawsuit continues in Israel on behalf of 1600 Israeli victims.

 Y. Cohen v. Oscar Wyatt Jr., El Paso Energy Company, et al. settled after prevailing on motions to dismiss and summary judgment. The evidence developed by MM~LAW traced clandestine “kick-back” payments made to the Saddam Hussein Regime by defendant oil companies, which were used by Saddam to pay a $20,000 reward to the families of each of the suicide bombers that perpetrated the horrific lethal attacks that resulted in the death and injury of the plaintiffs and hundreds of other victims during the Al Aqsa Intifada in Israel.

 Wamai v. Republic of the Sudan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian Military Intelligence and Security Ministry, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp. on behalf of American and African victims of the al-Qaeda bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Joint and several judgments in the amount of $8.6 billion, which MM~LAW settled with Sudan, recovering over $500 million to date. Enforcement and collection lawsuits against Iran are continuing.

Fishbeck v. Bank Saderat (one of the largest Iranian banks with an international presence in Europe, the Gulf, and Asia), Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian Military Intelligence, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp. Judgment in the amount of $930 million for 111 out of 2,650 plaintiffs in related cases. Court proceedings on the determination of judgment awards for the remaining 2,539 plaintiffs are pending.

Ambassador Gration (U.S. Embassy, Tanzania) v. Iran et al. (and related case Christie v Iran). Judgment in excess of $1.45 billion for aiding and abetting the Hizballah bombing of the U.S. Air Force housing complex, Khobar Towers, in Saudia Arabia. Plaintiffs’ claims have been determined eligible for awards from the United States Victims of State Sponsors of Terrorism Fund.

Ambassador Bushnell (U.S. Embassy, Kenya) v. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on behalf of more than 5,000 American and African victims of the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Judgment in the amount of $18.65 billion, enforcement of which, is actively being pursued in asset recovery litigation.

Estates of Eitam and Naama Henkin, and their 4 minor orphaned children v. Bank Melli (the largest bank in Iran with branches and affiliates in the EU, Gulf, and Asia), Bank Saderat, the Central Bank of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Republic of Syria. Largest single-family judgment in history for the amount of $179 million under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, enforcement of which, is actively being pursued in asset recovery litigation.  

Legislative Initiatives:

United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act. MM~LAW co-drafted the law (and its subsequent amendments) and led the lobbying team that created the United States Victims of State Sponsors of Terrorism Fund, which provides compensation for judgment holders against State Sponsors of Terrorism. The Fund distributes fines, penalties, and forfeitures levied by the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Treasury Department against violators of sanctions imposed by the U.S. government. As of July 2024, the Fund has awarded over $3.3 billion to 9/11 and other U.S. victims of Iranian, Syrian, Sudanese, Cuban, and North Korean supported terrorism.

Anti-Terroism Act 2013 amendment. Drafted and successfully lobbied Congress to amend the then 4-year statute of limitations under the Anti-Terrorism Act to the greater of 10 years or 6 years from enactment, which, subsequently, opened the possibility for over 3,000 Gold Star families and Vets-Wounded Warriors, to file lawsuits resulting from hundreds of attacks perpetrated by Iranian-back terrorists against U.S. civilians and military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Anti-Terroism Clarification Act. MM~LAW drafted and successfully lobbied passage by 100% votes in both Houses of Congress. This legislation removed a loophole where attacks by designated terrorist organizations and/or terrorists supported by designated State Sponsors of Terrorism, are now treated as acts of terrorism, and not “acts of war,” under U.S. and international law as some courts held. The clarification now serves as the bedrock for the thousands of claims in lawsuits filed by Gold Star Families, Wounded Warriors, as well as potential future lawsuits resulting from attacks on American civilians and military by the Houthis and other Iranian-backed “militias.”

Sudan Claims Resolution Act. Successfully lobbied Senators to amend the ratification of delisting the Republic of the Sudan as a State Sponsor of Terrorism pursuant to the Sudan Claims Resolution Act. Subsequent to the amendment, MM~LAW, successfully negotiated and entered into a settlement agreement on behalf of its clients, with the Republic of the Sudan providing compensation for all U.S. government employees holding judgments, irrespective of citizenship, resulting from the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. 

Amendment to Israeli Tort Law. Drafted and successfully lobbied for an amendment to the Israel Tort Law supported by both the coalition and opposition parties. The amendment provides mandatory punitive damages levied on defendants in civil lawsuits in the amount of 10 million New Israeli Shekels (NIS) per estate for wrongful death claims and 5 million NIS for injuries, resulting from acts of terrorism.

Strategic MM~LAW LLC Consulting Provided in International Counter-Terrorism Litigation

MM~LAW LLC has provided research and strategic, pro-bono, counter-terrorism consulting in the following cases:

Estate of David Boim v. Holy Land Foundation, the first lawsuit filed under the Anti-Terroism Act (18 U.S.C. § 2333). MM~LAW provided all of the research in Arabic and translations of hundreds of documents in Arabic, including finding the sole evidence of Hamas’ perpetration of the attack. Judgment - $156 million.

Comité de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP) v. Simon Wiesenthal Institute.  CBSP and other designated Hamas-controlled “charities” brought a libel lawsuit against the Simon Wiesenthal Institute in Paris, for publishing on its website the notice issued by the United States Treasury, designating CBSP a “specially designated global terrorist.”  After losing the case at the district court level in Paris, MM~LAW joined the lawsuit, pro bono, provided extensive research and the strategic architecture of the case, resulting in a victory reversal at the French High Tribunal and the European Court of Human Rights.

United States of America v. Alavi Foundation, 650 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Provided research, in Farsi, pro bono, to the joint task force of the Office of the District Attorney of Manhattan, and the U.S. Attorneys Counterterrorism Task Force, successfully mapping out the complex web of Iranian foundations (“bonyads) that de facto owned and controlled the Alavi Foundation and the 36-story office building on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan. MM~LAW, finding Iranian government documents, traced the complex web of entities in Iran and other countries, from Alavi Foundation, via bonyads controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp., to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. The research provided by MM~LAW contributed to the successful seizure by the U.S. government of the office building secretly owned and controlled by Iran, whose income was used to fund clandestine Iranian activities in the United States.

Al-Rajhi Bank, et al. v. Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. After the murder of WSJ reporter Danny Pearl, the WSJ published an article naming one of the largest banks in Saudi Arabia (and its primary owner) as major contributors to “charities” funding al Qaeda. Al-Rajhi sued Dow Jones and WSJ for libel in London, which at the time had very liberal libel laws, granting claims against newspapers and media, even in cases where the publications were true, assessing in such cases damages of one British pound. WSJ refused to accept any result, which gave al-Rajhi even a non-economic victory. Dow Jones and WSJ engaged MM-LAW (on a fee basis) to lead the research in Arabic, and in particular, using its large database of documents seized by the Israel Army (IDF) and other intelligence agencies, as well as other open-source research. After setbacks at the District and Appellate levels in London, victory was obtained in the House of Lords reversal, which was a breathtaking precedent in English law and resulted in Parliament amending English libel law.

MM~LAW Founder Gavriel (Gavi) Mairone

MM~LAW LLC was founded by Gavi Mairone, who restructured his 15-year international taxation law practice and pioneered a global comprehensive counter-terrorism law firm dedicated to advancing human rights law by representing victims of international terrorism, crimes against humanity, and genocide in civil lawsuits to force accountability upon the financiers and aiders and abettors of the perpetrators of such crimes.

 Gavi was awarded “2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Public Justice Foundation and is recognized by the National Trial Lawyers Association as a “Top 100 Trial Lawyer” and “Top 25 Mass Tort Lawyer.”

Gavi volunteered and served as an ECOSOC delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council on behalf of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists from 2012 to 2018 and continues to serve on the International Human Rights Committee of the American Bar Association, its Human Rights Clinic, and the Subcommittees on Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility. He is also a member of the American Association for Justice, the American Society of International Law, and the International Legal Team of the Kurdish Regional Government Group for the Recognition of the Kurdish Genocide, in Washington D.C. and London.

Gavi holds an LL.M in Taxation degree from New York University and a J.D. Summa Cum Laude, from Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law. He is admitted to the bar in Illinois, Florida, New York, the District of Columbia, Israel, and pro hac vice, in a lawsuit against the multinational corporations that built and supplied the Iraqi regime with chemical weapons, pending before the Civil District Court in Governorate of Sulaimani, Kurdish Region, Iraq, on behalf of Kurd victims of genocidal attacks using those chemical weapons.

Gavi is admitted to appear before the United States District Courts in the District of Columbia, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Northern District of Illinois, the Seventh Circuit and before the Supreme Court.

Military Service:

Gavi served in airborne and special forces.

Select Cases: 

U.S. Embassy bombing