"""

What did the testimony add to the case file?

As part of the ongoing 9/11 lawsuit in the U.S., former apartment manager Holly Ratchford said Omar al-Bayoumi, whom she met in San Diego, actively helped two of the attackers settle there. Ratchford gave a sealed statement to the court in New York and said Bayoumi introduced her to two new tenants on Feb. 3, 2000.

According to Ratchford, those two men were later identified as Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon. Ratchford, who was then the manager of Parkwood Apartments, said the two did not speak English and that Bayoumi handled the rental process.

What support was provided during the rental process?

Ratchford said the two applicants did not meet the income and bank account requirements, yet they were moved into the apartment within days. Court records show that Bayoumi was not just an intermediary in the process, but also took on legal responsibility.

  • Bayoumi signed the lease as a guarantor.
  • He listed himself as the pair’s emergency contact.
  • His own Parkwood address was used as the applicants’ current address.
  • Bank records show he took them to the nearest bank the next day to help them open accounts.

What claims stand out in court and FBI documents?

In the $1 trillion lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, victims’ families and survivors say Bayoumi supported the 9/11 plot. A federal judge in New York ruled last year that the evidence allows a reasonable inference that Bayoumi and a Saudi diplomat serving in the U.S. coordinated with the Saudi government while helping the hijackers.

The ruling cleared the way for the case to proceed. However, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bayoumi deny the accusations, and Riyadh is appealing the decision.

What was in the earlier FBI investigation?

Richard Lambert, who led the FBI investigation in San Diego after 9/11, told the BBC that there were suspicions Bayoumi was linked to Saudi intelligence within the city’s Muslim community. According to records cited in the report, the FBI later determined that Bayoumi was earning about $90,000 a year.

The BBC said Ratchford’s testimony contains details that conflict with Bayoumi’s account of events given to police, the FBI and the court. In the same file, questions remain over whether video footage Bayoumi shot in Washington in the summer of 1999 was part of reconnaissance activity or simply tourist footage.

The 9/11 attacks and the case today

On September 11, 2001, 19 al Qaeda-linked men hijacked four passenger planes. Two planes hit the World Trade Center towers in New York, one struck the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.

About 3,000 people were killed in the attacks. Twenty-five years later, thousands of families and survivors are still pressing ahead with legal action in search of more clarity about the background to the attacks.

"""