LOS ANGELES - Federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture action on Tuesday seeking to seize the proceeds of two life insurance policies held by Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife killed 14 people in a shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California.
Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 27, died in a shootout with police hours after the massacre last December at the Inland Regional Center social services center where he worked.
Authorities have said the couple were inspired by Islamic extremism and have called the shootings the deadliest such incident on US soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Twenty-one people were wounded.
According to the complaint for forfeiture, Farook obtained two life insurance policies through his job with San Bernardino County, one in 2012 for $25,000 and one in 2013 for $250,000. He named his mother, Rafia Farook, as the primary beneficiary of that coverage.
"Terrorists must not be permitted to provide for their designated beneficiaries through their crimes," US Attorney Eileen Decker said in announcing the lawsuit.