9/11 FAMILIES WITH $93.69 BILLION IN IRAN JUDGMENTS SAY NO ONE IS FIRST IN LINE FOR THE 127,271 SEIZED BITCOIN — RIVALS CLAIM “SUPERIOR RIGHT” — PAYING THE 9/11 JUDGMENTS ALONE TAKES MORE THAN $736,000 A COIN

On October 15, 2026, the 9/11 families answered their rivals in the Brooklyn fight over the 127,271 bitcoin the government seized in the Chen Zhi case. Their lawyers say they speak for more than 12,000 family members and individuals who were hurt on September 11 or represent people killed that day, holding compensatory judgments against Iran of about $93,698,050,499 before interest. To every group that says it should be paid first, they answer that the terror law everyone is suing under doesn’t rank anybody: it doesn’t “provide for a hierarchy of priority among judgment holders.”

They also say nobody has a head start yet. “At this time, no Claimant in this action has been granted an execution or attachment by any court,” they wrote. So they want any payout shared “on an equitable basis as to all such claimants.” Not everyone agrees. On October 16 the Heiser Claimants told the court they “have superior right, title, and interest to the Property.” Lawyers for 19 other claimant groups and individuals said those clients “do not intend to pursue any crossclaims against one another.” That’s at least 32 docket entries in two days, with the government’s status report on some claims due October 19, 2026.

Here’s the math none of the filings do. Divide the 9/11 judgments by 127,271 coins and you get $736,208.96 a coin. Below that price, the whole pile doesn’t cover this one group’s compensatory damages, before interest and before more than a dozen other claimant groups get a turn. Add the $1,268,173,992 that troops and their families claimed on October 14 and it’s $746,173.32 a coin.

That’s what a seizure does to a coin. The Justice Department says these sat in wallets “whose private keys the defendant had in his possession” and are now “presently in the custody of the U.S. government.” Once the keys changed hands, the coins stopped being anybody’s savings and became a line at a courthouse. The number of coins is fixed. The dollar claims against them aren’t. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $81,640.