"Gilbert Chagoury has not provided material assistance to any terrorist group and there is no reasonable basis on which to believe he is a terrorist threat," the lawsuit says. | POLITICO Screen grab Clinton Foundation donor sues over leaks about visa denial Billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, mentioned in emails between Clinton aides, seeks to clear his name after U.S. banned him for suspected ties to terrorism.

A major donor to the Clinton Foundation is suing the U.S. government over leaks that led to news reports last month saying he was denied a U.S. visa over alleged ties to terrorism funding.

Nigerian-born billionaire Gilbert Chagoury grabbed headlines in early August after the State Department released emails showing that a Clinton Foundation official pressed a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to arrange a meeting for Chagoury in 2009 to discuss U.S. policy in Lebanon.


"As you know, he’s key guy there and to us and is loved in Lebanon," Bill Clinton aide Doug Band wrote in the April 2009 message made public through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Chagoury has given the foundation between $1 million and $ 5 million, according to a list on the foundation's website.

The email exchange between Band and State Department Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin drew fresh scrutiny of Chagoury, leading to a Los Angeles Times report late last month that Chagoury was denied a U.S. visa last year because of alleged involvement with fundraising for Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, Chagoury alleges that the L.A. Times story was the result of illegal leaks by U.S. government agencies.

In the suit, Chagoury continues to deny links to terrorism, but the British citizen acknowledges for the first time that he was stripped of his ten-year U.S. tourist visa in May 2015. When he reapplied, State denied him a visa on grounds of an association with terrorism.

"Gilbert Chagoury has not provided material assistance to any terrorist group and there is no reasonable basis on which to believe he is a terrorist threat," the lawsuit says.

The suit names seven government agencies as defendants: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Justice Department, the National Counterterrorism Center, the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The lawsuit could be precedent-setting because it appears to be the first brought under the Judicial Redress Act, a law President Obama signed in February giving foreign nationals the right to sue in U.S. courts over alleged invasions of privacy and to seek corrections of inaccurate U.S. government records.

Chagoury's suit says the "unlawful leak" prompted a bank to close his accounts in California and has complicated his business dealings around the world.

“This was a deliberate, outrageous and unlawful leak of information and more importantly, misinformation about Gilbert Chagoury. It violated the Privacy Act, the Judicial Redress Act, and his right to due process. He is suing to recover his reputation and the property and business interests that have been unjustly harmed by this irresponsible action,” Chagoury's attorney Stewart Baker said in a statement Friday.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department, which represents most U.S. agencies in such litigation, declined to comment on the suit.

In 2010, Chagoury was placed on the U.S. no-fly list and questioned for several hours. He was later removed from the list and switched to another which involves added scrutiny but does not prevent travel. His lawyers also obtained a written apology from the Department of Homeland Security over the episode.

Chagoury's suit says he "has donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Global Initiative" and "substantial financial support to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital."

The complaint also says the fact that Chagoury is regularly cleared to "attend events and socialize with many current and former officials, including President Bill Clinton," undercuts the notion that the businessman poses some sort of security threat.

Clinton Foundation president Donna Shalala said on MSNBC this week that there is "no question" that businessmen with ties to the group sometimes got "courtesy appointments" with Clinton or other officials.

However, Chagoury and State Department officials say no meetings resulted from the 2009 email exchange.

Privacy Act lawsuits filed over alleged leaks to the news media can be particularly problematic for the journalists involved. If they refused to identify their sources, the reporters can be faced with crippling fines or the possibility of jail time for contempt of court.