The Hindu : International : $21.9-million award in Holocaust case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 15, 2005

International

International

$21.9-million award in Holocaust case

NEW YORK: A Federal judge approved a $21.9 millions award to heirs of two wealthy families victimised by the Holocaust — by far the largest single claim paid thus far in a case against Swiss banks accused of selling out to the Nazis. The U.S. District Judge, Edward R Korman, in Brooklyn on Wednesday approved the payment based on the recommendation of a court-appointed tribunal that disburses funds set aside under a settlement between Holocaust survivors and the banks. Lawyers said the previous high for an award was about $4 millions. In a report dated Wednesday, the tribunal called the award ``unique in its size'' and ``a striking example of the widespread betrayal of Jewish clients by the Swiss banks.'' Holocaust survivors and their families sued Credit Suisse, UBS AG and other Swiss banks, accusing them of stealing, concealing or sending to the Nazis hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Jewish holdings and destroying bank records to cover the paper trail. In 1998, Judge Korman approved a $1.25 billions settlement and appointed the tribunal to process thousands of claims. The $21.9 millions award stems from a claim by Holocaust survivor Maria Altmann (89), of Los Angeles, and about two dozen unnamed heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer and Otto Pick, both major shareholders in a large sugar refinery in Austria before World War II. — AP

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