Key Points:
Today, marks 25 years since the September 11 terrorist attack and several theories surrounding the attack by Al-Qaeda still exist.
Larry Silverstein is an American businessman and billionaire who signed a 99-year lease for the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in July 2001.
Weeks later the attack happened and shocking Silverstein did not go to work that day when he had an appointment at Manhattan.
25 YEARS HAVE PASSED since the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, USA. Two commercial US airplanes, hijacked by members of the terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda, crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center (WTC).
Today, the 9/11 attacks are deemed one of the darkest days in American history. In just a few moments, the Twin Towers, which were once the tallest buildings in the world, were reduced to rubble and dust.
Even after all these years, conspiracy theories surrounding the attack continue to emerge. The name Larry Silverstein is often mentioned in these theories. Ring a bell? Larry Silverstein is an American businessman and billionaire who signed a 99-year lease for the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center at a whopping cost of $3.2 billion in July 2001. Seven weeks after he signed the lease, something shocking happened—the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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Theorists have always wondered: Where was Silverstein that day? He himself had shared that he was a regular at the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of the North Tower in the original WTC complex in Lower Manhattan. The restaurant was destroyed in the attack with no reported survivors. But on September 11, 2001, he did not go there.
Larry Silverstein founded Silverstein Properties Inc., whose current CEO is Lisa Silverstein, the daughter of Larry and Klara Silverstein. Over the years, online theorists have wondered why Larry chose not to go to work on the day that changed the world forever. In 2021, he told an Israeli television network that it was a “miracle” he survived the attack.
Silverstein told Channel 13, “Miraculously, I’m alive. I’m here, which is a miracle.” Just weeks after signing the 99-year lease, he was planning to go to work to meet one of the tenants on September 11, 2001. He said, “My wife said, ‘You can’t go.’” When he asked her why and told her about his appointment downtown, he said, quoting his wife, “She said, ‘Because I made an appointment for you with a dermatologist, and that’s something you cancelled last month, and you cannot cancel again.’”
Little did Larry know that missing work for one day would save his life. He further shared, “When you are married to the same woman for 45 years and she gets upset, you can’t let this happen.”
After the Twin Towers collapsed following the terrorist attack, the world was left in shock and horror. Larry Silverstein had vowed to rebuild the structure after it was destroyed by the hijackers. As cited by Reuters, Silverstein’s agreement covered the management of the Twin Towers, 4 and 5 WTC, covering approximately 425,000 square feet of ground. It also stated that he was obliged to rebuild the structures if they were destroyed, at any cost.
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According to a report by The Guardian published in 2004, Silverstein reportedly took out an insurance policy worth $3.55 billion from 24 different insurance companies just months before the structure was reduced to dust and rubble.
After the terrorist attack, the billionaire businessman argued in court for twice the insurance amount, as two US airliners had crashed into the Twin Towers, saying the incident should be considered two separate occurrences. After a long legal battle, Silverstein Properties and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey won a total of $4.55 billion in insurance payouts.
Larry Silverstein is an American businessman born into a Jewish family in 1931. He started Silverstein Properties Inc. in 1957. He is married to Klara Silverstein and has three children. As of September 11, 2026, his net worth, according to Forbes, is $1 billion. Twenty-five years after the 2001 terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda, some billion dollars later the World Trade Center is still in the process of being rebuilt.
(Edited by Harsh Pandey)
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