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Late Priest: Family Hasn't Received Money From Damages Award
Thursday, February 21, 2002
By Charles B. Pelkie
Staff Writer

Reporter Charles B. Pelkie can be reached at 815/729-6039,
or via e-mail at cpelkie@scn1.com



Treasury spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said comments made by the former deputy secretary two years ago have no bearing on processing the Jenco family's damages award today. She insisted that OFAC is moving forward with the process.

JOLIET -- Source
It has been more than seven months since a federal judge awarded the family of the late Rev. Lawrence Martin Jenco $14.6 million in damages for the time he spent as a U.S. hostage in Lebanon.

But Jenco's family members today are wondering why the U.S. Treasury has yet to write a check for damages that would draw on Iranian assets frozen in the United States.

And their Washington attorney, Steven Perles, argued that the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which governs the disbursement of these funds, is dragging its heels at the expense of his clients. "It would be an understatement to say that OFAC has been less than victim-friendly," Perles said.

Iranian extremists took Jenco hostage in Lebanon in 1985 and held him captive for 19 months. Jenco, from Joliet, died from cancer in the United States in 1996, 10 years after his release.

In August, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth awarded the Roman Catholic priest's six siblings and his estate $14.6 million in compensatory damages.
(More: The Herald News Online Source)
2002 © The Herald News Online.

Dan