September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Resumes Payments to Victims

Just over fifteen years following the September 11th (9/11) terrorist attacks on the United States, some victims still await compensation.

Claimants were grouped in group A and group B, with group A receiving a letter of the decision on the claim on or before December 17, 2015.  Group B are most simply explained as those that are not in group A, officials said.

Rupa Bhattacharyya, Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF)  announced on Monday that Group B payments will begin on Monday, October 3, 2016. Bhattacharyya authorized over 500 claims for payment, the first being issued to those with “exigent circumstances” then in the order of the claimant notification thereafter. These payments may take up to three weeks to reach the claimant’s bank account, the U.S. Department of Treasury officials said.

“In the last 10 weeks since I transitioned into the role of Special Master, the VCF has issued determinations on more than 900 compensation claims and amendments and just under 1,200 eligibility claims and amendments,” said Special Master Bhattacharyya.  “This reflects the overall hard work done by the VCF team over the last several months and continues to demonstrate our progress and commitment to the 9/11 community and to providing deserved compensation to those who have suffered as a result of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”

Although not all group B payments are coming in this disbursement, the VCF continues on focus on processing the group B Claims that were submitted prior to August 1st when the new claim form became available. Claims are bring processed in priority order, with the oldest claims being decided on first. The VCF said that as of early September, there were 1300 claims, with approximately 800 of them being submitted over a year ago.

Those that were submitted over two years ago are expected to be completed by the end of the year. Additionally, the VCF is attempting to make progress on those submitted over a year ago. Some claims for both groups have already been awarded as funding has allowed. As of October 3, 2016, the VCF has issued over 9000 awards for group A claimants, with $1.822 billion awarded and over 1500 group B claimants, with $228 million awarded.

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