Quote article: "One of the three who received his FAA licenses this year, Yeslam bin Laden, a half-brother of Osama who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, is named in a civil lawsuit brought by the families of 9/11 victims alleging he helped to finance Osama's al-Qaeda network as it started up in the 1990s in Yemen and the Sudan."

Source: ABC News
By ERIC LONGABARDI and JOSEPH RHEE
Url: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/high-flying-bin-ladens/story?id=9271855

At least 12 members of Osama bin Laden's family currently hold Federal Aviation Administration pilot's licenses that make them eligible to fly aircraft anywhere in the United States, including three who received their licenses just this June, according to an analysis of FAA records provided to ABC News by a computer security firm, Safe Banking Systems.
Photo: The High-Flying Bin Laden?s; 13 Osama Kin Hold FAA Licenses: US Says No Terror Threat Posed by the Bin Laden Family?s Fascination with Aviation

Thirteen members of Osama bin Laden's family currently hold Federal Aviation Administration pilot's licenses that make them eligible to fly aircraft anywhere in the United States, including three who received their licenses just this June, according to an analysis of FAA records provided to ABC News. Collapse

One of the three who received his FAA licenses this year, Yeslam bin Laden, a half-brother of Osama who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, is named in a civil lawsuit brought by the families of 9/11 victims alleging he helped to finance Osama's al-Qaeda network as it started up in the 1990s in Yemen and the Sudan.

Yeslam disputes the allegations in the lawsuit and, like the entire family, has repudiated Osama.

Still, lawyers for the 9/11 families question whether the FAA has done its job.

"Any ties to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda whatsoever, even remote familial ties, require the utmost scrutiny and skepticism," said Don Migliore, an attorney representing 9/11 families.

The FAA and the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) would not address the bin Laden family pilots specifically but said no current license holders are considered "potential terrorists to harm the flying public."

In 2006, U.S. officials did revoke the license of one bin Laden half-brother, Bakr bin Laden, because of "security concerns," an FAA official told ABCNews.com. Bakr was also named in the 9/11 victims' lawsuit.

Stephen Brogan, a lawyer for Bakr bin Laden, said in a statement to ABC News there was "no basis" for revoking Bakr's FAA license and called it a "reflexive bureaucratic response based solely on the fact that Bakr is half brother to OBL."

The lawyer said "the U.S. military has continued to work with the family companies run by Bakr."