# Did The 9-11 terrorists BENEFIT From The Chaos?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-9-11-terrorists-benefit-from-the-chaos/234453>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 15, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-9-11-terrorists-benefit-from-the-chaos/234453 "2004-03-15T16:43:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-9-11-terrorists-benefit-from-the-chaos/234453/1 "2004-03-15T16:43:33Z")

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There seems to have been an abnormally high number of shortsell orders on the NYSE, just before the 9-11 attacks. presumably, the terrorist could have made a fortune from short selling before the disaster. in particular, airline stocks suffered huge drops. Does Bin-Laden’s family have xtensive invstments of this type? And, how mush was made by shortsellers in the aftermath of 9-11?  
Seems like the SEC should do a public investigation-we may well find that these sales have been fund the world’s terrorists! 😕

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**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-9-11-terrorists-benefit-from-the-chaos/234453/2 "2004-03-15T17:55:40Z")

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> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> There seems to have been an abnormally high number of shortsell orders on the NYSE, just before the 9-11 attacks. presumably, the terrorist could have made a fortune from short selling before the disaster. in particular, airline stocks suffered huge drops. Does Bin-Laden’s family have xtensive invstments of this type? And, how mush was made by shortsellers in the aftermath of 9-11?  
> Seems like the SEC should do a public investigation-we may well find that these sales have been fund the world’s terrorists! 😕

I don’t believe so. They placed the orders, but never collected on them. An investigation was opened; the culprits were never found.

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**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-9-11-terrorists-benefit-from-the-chaos/234453/3 "2004-03-15T18:00:41Z")

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> [@toadspittle](#):
>
> I don’t believe so. They placed the orders, but never collected on them. An investigation was opened; the culprits were never found.

Do you have any links to reports on any of these investigations?

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-9-11-terrorists-benefit-from-the-chaos/234453/4 "2004-03-15T18:07:25Z")

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Here’s the Snopes [article](http://www.snopes.com/rumors/putcall.htm). It’s from 2001, no updates in a long time.