Feds Go After San Bernardino Shooter's Life Insurance

Federal prosecutors have filed a lawsuit to seize payments on life insurance policies taken out by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook in the years before the December attacks. The US attorney's office in Los Angeles filed the civil asset forfeiture lawsuit Tuesday for two policies worth a total of $275,000, the AP reports. Farook took out the two policies, one worth $25,000 in 2012, and the other worth $250,000 in 2013, prosecutors say. His mother was named as beneficiary of both policies. Farook's wife, Tashfeen Malik, died with him in a shootout with authorities after the Dec. 2 attack during which they shot and killed 14 people.

The US attorney's office says that under federal law, assets derived from terrorism against the United States are subject to forfeiture. The lawsuit seeks to seize both the proceeds and the policies themselves. "Terrorists must not be permitted to provide for their designated beneficiaries through their crimes," US Attorney Eileen M. Decker says. "My office intends to explore every legal option available to us to ensure these funds are made available to the victims of this horrific crime. We will continue to use every tool available to seek justice on behalf of the victims." (The insurance money is a lot less than what the FBI is believed to have paid hackers to crack Farook's iPhone.)