Generations after the Holocaust, Congress still seeking answers on bank’s ties to Nazi crimes

The Swiss financial firm UBS faces persistent Senate questioning and the chance of new lawsuits over Nazi-era bank accounts.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and an independent investigator UBS hired are accusing the firm of repeated obstructionist behavior for withholding documents, a narrative UBS denies. An April court ruling in New York also left open the chance for litigation over Credit Suisse’s Nazi-linked accounts. Grassley now wants President Donald Trump’s officials involved in investigating. “We remain committed to engaging constructively with the committee,” UBS told the Washington Examiner.“As part of its contribution to the search for historical truth, beginning in 2020, Credit Suisse — and, following its acquisition, UBS — have conducted a monumental voluntary investigation into Credit Suisse’s World War II-era conduct,” UBS said. “UBS has continued to support these efforts, as a testament to its unwavering commitment to finding the truth. The purpose of this voluntary review is to responsibly strengthen the historical record of this dark period in human history, with the aim that, through knowledge and reflection, the atrocities of Nazism are never repeated.”‘Thumbing its nose at the U.S. Congress’ The Simon Wiesenthal Center, an investigative group named after the late Nazi hunter, kicked off the latest inquiry into Credit Suisse’s connection to the Holocaust in 2020, according to a Senate summary. The organization told Credit Suisse there was evidence of the bank having Nazi-linked accounts not uncovered by the 1999 case.Credit Suisse hired independent ombudsman Neil Barofsky the following year to look further into the matter, but fired him in 2022 when he would not put up with certain records being withheld, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in February. After buying Credit Suisse in 2023, UBS agreed to reinstate Barofsky that year amid bipartisan Senate pressure, the Senate Banking Committee announced in December 2023.The findings he testified about in February were already groundbreaking: Credit Suisse held accounts for a Nazi-controlled manufacturer that armed the military, a German office that transferred Jews to concentration camps, the Nazi-controlled German Red Cross, and agents of the murderous Schutzstaffel, or SS. The SS clients included convicted war criminal Leo Volk, though Credit Suisse denied having an account for him in 2001 when asked by a Switzerland commission, according to Barofsky. There were also “previously unreported examples of Credit Suisse executing forced transfers of Jewish clients’ assets” to Nazis, the attorney told lawmakers.Barosky testified that he could not honestly consider his inquiry complete unless UBS releases the withheld files, which it deems private attorney work documents or protected by attorney-client privilege. Grassley urged the Trump administration to pressure UBS for answers in a May letter to officials after the Treasury Department gave the bank approval to set up shop in the U.S.“So, UBS, should its conduct remain unchanged, will apparently be able to make money off the backs of the U.S. taxpayers while thumbing its nose at the U.S. Congress, the American people, victims of the Holocaust, and history itself,” Grassley wrote. The Treasury Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.UBS claims the concealed records do not contain anything meaningful to Barofsky’s work.“Importantly, this does not impact the investigation into the role Credit Suisse played during World War II and its aftermath, as the privileged documents being withheld were created in the 1990s and 2000s,” the firm said in a May statement.“Credit Suisse voluntarily and without any legal obligation agreed to work with the [Simon Wiesenthal Center] to examine the SWC’s allegations,” UBS said. “The Bank did so out of a desire to pursue historical truth for its own sake — to ascertain if any material facts could contribute to a better understanding of events that occurred approximately 80 years earlier, including why they occurred.”Barofsky agreed in 2023 to complete his project in three months but has since dragged it on, according to UBS. The bank expects his final report to be released by the end of the year. Barofsky did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.“His role is not that of a prosecutor or government-appointed monitor,” UBS said of Barofsky. “The Ombudsperson is not entitled to interpret his mandate any way he pleases or to make threats, veiled or otherwise, in order to impose his view or interest.”“It is time to conclude the investigation and bring the findings to the public,” UBS said in May.Bankers brace for more possible lawsuits Amid the backdrop of Grassley and Barofsky’s inquiries, more potential legal troubles remain for UBS stemming from the Holocaust.UBS asked the same New York federal judge who approved the 1999 victim settlement, Edward Korman, to issue a ruling in January clarifying the scope of the settlement to shield from further lawsuits, court records show. While the $1.25 billion payout pertained to stolen Jewish assets, UBS wanted Korman to affirm that it also covered claims related to the recently uncovered Nazi accounts so that groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center could not bring new lawsuits.However, the bank was merely describing “hypothetical events and events that are not before me,” Korman said in an April ruling that denied its request.“UBS may well believe that it would benefit from a court’s analysis of the 1999 Settlement Agreement — but unless and until a genuine case or controversy arises that requires judicial interpretation of its terms, the Agreement will continue to speak for itself,” Korman wrote.STATE DEPARTMENT DEMANDS US-FUNDED UN AGENCY ‘FULLY INVESTIGATE’ HAMAS INVOLVEMENT IN AID PROGRAMSThe Simon Wiesenthal Center told senators after Korman’s ruling that it is not currently threatening to sue UBS, though it opposed the bank’s attempt to prevent all future cases about the Nazi accounts. The center did not respond to multiple requests for comment.Wiesenthal’s organization “will continue to provide assistance, information, and subject-matter expertise to the Committee and any other component of the United States government to the fullest extent possible,” it told lawmakers.