The Islamic militant group ISIS at one time demanded a ransom of 100 million euros — $132 million — for the release of James Foley, the American journalist who was beheaded in an ISIS video made public earlier this week. GlobalPost, the news organization for which Foley was working when he was captured in Syria in 2012, said that the demand was made of Foley’s family “during an initial period of communication with Jim’s captors from November to December of 2013.”
The U.S. military tried a mission to rescue Foley and other American hostages held in Syria by militants, but the mission failed because the hostages were not where planners thought they were, U.S. officials have told NBC News. Philip Balboni, the chief executive of GlobalPost, told The Wall Street Journal that all communication about Foley was shared with government authorities. He declined to discuss the organization’s reply to the ransom demand.
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