World Trade Center 7 (WTC7) was a 47-storey steel-framed building situated within the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. On September 11th Attacks 2001, following the attacks on the Twin Towers, WTC7 collapsed at 5:20 p.m.

Collapse Explanation 

The official explanation for the collapse, provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), asserts that fires, ignited by debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers, caused the building’s demise.

These fires, reportedly fuelled by office furnishings, led to thermal expansion in floor beams, which in turn dislodged a girder from column 79, initiating a progressive collapse.

The property owner, Larry Silverstein, recalled a conversation with a fire department commander concerning the inability to contain the fire, stating that a decision was made to "pull" the building, after which the collapse was observed.

Ownership and Financial Arrangements 

The World Trade Center complex, including WTC7, was leased by New York real estate mogul Larry Silverstein in July 2001, approximately six weeks before the September 11th Attacks attacks.

The lease agreement for the 10 million square foot property in Lower Manhattan was secured with a down payment of just $13 million. The World Trade Centre complex was considered a significant financial liability, partly due to extensive asbestos contamination. The estimated cost for removing this asbestos was projected to be a minimum of $1 billion.

Prior to the 11 September events, Larry Silverstein obtained insurance policies on the World Trade Centre complex worth $3.55 billion, specifically designed to cover terrorist attacks.

Following the collapses of the Twin Towers and WTC7, Silverstein's legal team contended that each aircraft impact constituted a separate event to double the payout. After a protracted legal dispute, Larry Silverstein secured a payout of $4.55 billion, representing a 34,884.62% return on his initial investment. Notably, £861 million of this payout was specifically allocated for WTC7, despite the building being a fraction of the complex's overall size.

Travelers was one of the 22 companies that insured the World Trade Center complex. Hartford Insurance, also known as ITT Hartford, was another company with whom Larry Silverstein had taken out a multi-billion dollar terrorism insurance policy on the complex.

Occupancy and Destruction of Records WTC7 housed a diverse and noteworthy array of tenants, many of whom possessed sensitive or critical documents. The tenant list included:

• The Secret Service.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
• The New York field office of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
• The New York City Office of Emergency Management.
• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
• The Department of Defense.
• The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NIC).
• The Federal Home Loan Bank.
• The Standard Chartered Bank.
• American Express.
• Provident Bank, now known as PNC.
• ITT Hartford, also known as Hartford Insurance, one of the companies involved in insuring the WTC complex.
• Solomon Brothers, a prominent investment bank that occupied more than half of the building and served as its anchor tenant.

At the time of the collapse, the SEC's offices within WTC7 contained numerous sensitive investigation files. These included records related to alleged financial irregularities involving Citigroup, investigations into Enron's Ponzi scheme, and comprehensive records concerning the extensive short-selling of airline stocks that occurred immediately prior to 11 September.

After WTC7's collapse, 90 per cent of the SEC's files were destroyed, impeding efforts to determine who financially benefited from the pre-9/11 airline stock short-selling.

Similarly, Solomon Brothers' files pertaining to the Worldcom scandal were destroyed, allowing its successor, Travelers Group, to avoid legal repercussions. The financial sector as a whole was able to dispose of a significant volume of highly incriminating records that were relevant to legal proceedings following the dot-com bubble.

Interconnections and Contextual Information Larry Silverstein maintained extensive connections to The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm with substantial investments in defence, aerospace, and oil sectors.

David Rubenstein, a senior figure within The Carlyle Group, was a close associate of Larry Silverstein. The Carlyle Group's executive roster also featured notable figures such as former President George H.W. Bush, who served as a senior adviser, and former CIA director Frank Carlucci, who was a board member.

The Carlyle Group also held significant business relationships with the Bin Laden family, managing their wealth as one of their major asset management clients. David Rubenstein, a key figure in The Carlyle Group, was reportedly meeting with members of the Bin Laden family on the morning of 11 September.

Following the 11 September attacks and the subsequent global military conflicts, defence stocks experienced a surge, leading to a substantial increase in The Carlyle Group's portfolio value, who were part of the firms that greatly profited from war-related activities during this period.

The connections of The Carlyle Group extend to several areas:

• To the Department of Defense, a WTC7 tenant, through various channels including the Bradley contract of their subsidiary, United Defense LP.
• To Saudi Arabia through their management of the Bin Laden family's finances.

To Larry Silverstein due to his close and long-standing relationship with David Rubenstein.

Advanced Knowledge and Intelligence Operations 

It is an explicit and officially acknowledged fact that there was extensive advance knowledge that an attack was imminent. Warnings regarding a potential attack had been evident since at least 1999. The lack of cooperation and intelligence sharing between the FBI and CIA indirectly contributed to the events of 11 September.

Furthermore, it is officially acknowledged, albeit quietly, that two of the hijackers were, during the 1990s, CIA recruits. A court document declassified in 2021 revealed concerns about a suppressed and un-pursued investigation following 11 September into the possibility that two of the hijackers had been on CIA payroll, with Saudi Arabia acting as an intermediary.

Funds were transferred from Washington D.C. to the Saudi embassy, then wired from the embassy to mainland Saudi Arabia, where they were disbursed to Omar Albayumi. Albayumi allegedly received this money through a "no-show no work job" at Eran, a Saudi government contracting company.

Albayumi subsequently brought the funds back into the United States to provide to Alhazmi and Almidhar, the hijackers, to cover their living expenses. The objective was to recruit them as CIA assets embedded within Al-Qaeda. Despite being known Al-Qaeda members, these individuals were permitted entry into the United States.

This intricate arrangement was part of a joint US-Saudi intelligence operation, involving "Alex Station," a CIA outpost located within Saudi Arabia. Due to the official prohibition on the Central Intelligence Agency conducting domestic operations, Saudi intelligence agents were utilised as proxies within the United States. This operational framework originated in the 1970s with the establishment of the "Safari Club".

Pre-Attack Financial Anomalies 

In the three days immediately preceding 11 September, a statistically highly unusual volume of short-selling occurred in the airline industry. Hundreds of millions of dollars in short positions were placed specifically on American Airlines and United Airlines, the two airlines whose aircraft were involved in the attacks. These short positions subsequently yielded billions of dollars in profits.

The BBC Premature Announcement

The BBC's premature report of the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC7) on September 11, 2001, approximately 20-26 minutes before it actually occurred at 5:20 p.m.

BBC correspondent Jane Standley reported the collapse while the building was still visible in the background. The BBC responded to this error, blaming the rapid flow of unverified information from multiple sources while monitoring emergency services and other media, which had indicated WTC7 was in danger of collapse due to uncontrolled fires and structural damage from debris of the Twin Towers’ collapse.

Yet the report’s language was strikingly specific, with correspondent Jane Standley stating definitively that WTC7, referred to as the "Salomon Brothers Building," had collapsed, rather than being at risk,

The mysterious cutting of the BBC’s satellite feed when discussing WTC7, explained as a technical timer issue at 17:15, adds to suspicions, as does the absence of accountability, with no individuals or processes identified as responsible for the error.

After the broadcast, the BBC claimed this footage was lost due to archiving issues - the tapes "misplaced on the wrong shelf" - but in 2007, after intense public pressure to release their 9/11 footage resurfaced again.