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Dead CIA pilot's kin wants
asset handover
Associated Press, Centre
Daily Times, PA, November 3, 2005.
NEW YORK - The daughter of an American
pilot shot down over Cuba during the Bay
of Pigs invasion nearly 45 years ago has
asked a court to order JPMorgan Chase &
Co. to turn over more than $22 million in
assets held on behalf of the Cuban government.
Janet Weininger, the daughter of American
pilot Thomas Ray, was awarded compensatory
damages of $22.5 million and punitive damages
of $65 million by a Florida court in June
after suing Cuba for the torture and death
of her father and desecration of his body.
Ray, an Alabama Air Guard pilot on a mission
for the Central Intelligence Agency, was
shot down over Cuba in April 1961 during
the unsuccessful, three-day Bay of Pigs
invasion, which was undertaken by CIA-trained
Cuban exiles, according to the lawsuit.
He survived the crash and was summarily
tortured and executed, according to court
documents. His remains were returned to
the United States in the late 1970s.
In July, Weininger filed an action in New
York state court seeking the garnishment
of funds held on behalf of Cuba by JPMorgan
Chase Bank in New York.
Chase Bank, which is holding more than
$72 million that the government of Cuba
or its agents have interests in, says it
is unable to turn over the money because
Cuban funds are effectively frozen in the
United States, the lawsuit says.
A spokesman for JPMorgan Chase declined
to comment Wednesday.
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