06 January 2023 , 12:00
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LIV Golf have been accused of building a 'chilling' dossier on the families of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. The latest chapter in the PGA Tour's battle with LIV has seen the Tour's PR firm - Clout Public Affairs - file a lawsuit against the Saudi-backed circuit.
The suit suggests that LIV are using the discovery phase of their antitrust lawsuit to form the dossier which is said to contain relatives of the 9/11 victims who have made comments against the state of Saudi Arabia. Some families of victims have criticised the LIV Golf Series, and its involvement in the United States.
9/11 family activist groups protested outside a number of the Saudi-backed series' tournaments in 2022, including at LIV's $50 million season-ending finale in Miami in October.
LIV has since claimed that these protests were in fact funded by their PGA Tour rivals. The president of one of these groups - 9/11 justice - has spoken out on the reported dossier, and claimed the families have been left 'fearing for their safety'.
Brett Eagleson - who lost his father in the World Trade Centre attack - said: "It’s pretty chilling and a lot of family members have reached out because they are fearing for their safety. The Saudis have a reputation of bullying, intimidating, hacking and cutting people’s heads off.
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Protests took place outside a number of LIV events (Getty Images)"Nobody has been held accountable for 9/11 but here we are, 21 years later, and now we are the bad boys.” The filing against the Saudi-backed circuit claims LIV has 'hired a firm' based in the US to 'track and monitor' victims and families effected by the attacks.
The filing read: "LIV has brazenly hired a firm in the United States to track and monitor the activities of these 9/11 victims and families, while simultaneously, through the underlying lawsuit, using antitrust discovery to now sift Clout’s communications with these families, even if they have nothing to do with LIV, golf or golfers.”
Almost 3,000 people were killed in four attacks on September 11, 2001 as both of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Centre in New York, and the Pentagon - headquarters of the US military - were hit by hijacked planes. Since, declassified American intelligence has claimed links between the attacks and Saudi Arabia, with 15 of the hijackers Saudi nationals.
The Mirror has approached LIV Golf and Clout Public Affairs for comment.