FBI Briefed Financial Institutions on Al-Qaeda Threat

(Updates with FBI briefings in second paragraph.)

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The FBI told financial institutions in New York that they face a potential threat from al-Qaeda, said Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the bureau’s New York office.

The banks were given briefings last month on the possible threats from al-Qaeda after published reports surfaced focusing on those businesses, Margolin said.

“The threat information is that it’s not imminent and not specific,” Margolin said today in a phone interview.

The FBI and members of the Joint Terrorist Task Force, which includes the New York Police Department, regularly give briefings to the public sector about terrorist threats, he said.

“In the nearly 10 years since 9/11, we give briefings as circumstances warrant,” Margolin said. “This threat was in the course of a periodic updates given to them in the evolving threat stream.”

A spokesman for the New York Police Department, who didn’t give his name, declined to comment when asked about the threat assessment. Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, also declined to comment.

--Editors: Michael Hytha, Peter Blumberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York at pathurtado@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net.