Victims of Terrorism, a Chicago-based collective that seeks compensatory justice for the victims of terrorist attacks, has retained government affairs consultancy Kamins Consulting for help on criminal justice issues in Washington.

According to lobbying registration documents filed in July, Kamins is advocating on behalf of the group regarding compensation for U.S. Government employees that were killed or injured during the August 1998 suicide bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed more than 200 people — including 12 Americans — and wounded 4,000 others.

The simultaneous truck bomb attacks, which were linked to members of Egyptian al-Qaeda affiliate the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, were responsible for launching Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda into the public eye in the U.S. for the first time.

Embassy Bombing

A series of civil suit brought by victims of the bombings and their families under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act resulted in a 2014 federal court final judgment that found the governments of Sudan and Iran liable for $8.6 billion to the victims in compensatory damages as well as pain and suffering, due to those nations’ roles in funding or otherwise lending direct support to the attackers.

Last year, another ruling, Owens v. Republic of Sudan, denied Sudan’s motions for appeals after years of ignoring the litigation.

The Victims of Terrorism account will be led by Scott Kamins, a former Prime Policy Group Director and VP who previously served as deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the Bush Administration and was also deputy chief of staff and director of government affairs at the Republican National Committee.

Prior to his appointment as Deputy Assistant Secretary, Kamins was director of House affairs and also a director of congressional and public affairs at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.