{"id":48139,"date":"2026-04-13T19:26:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/48139\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:26:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:26:04","slug":"ubs-accused-of-blocking-probe-into-nazi-thefts-from-holocaust-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/48139\/","title":{"rendered":"UBS accused of blocking probe into Nazi thefts from Holocaust victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 UBS has been accused<\/a> of withholding tens of thousands of records about former subsidiary Credit Suisse\u2019s shocking Nazi ties \u2014 including involving the forced transfer of assets owned by murdered Jews.<\/p>\n

Around 23,000 documents are still being \u201credacted or withheld\u201d from a lawyer conducting an independent investigation into the Nazi-linked accounts at the now-defunct Credit Suisse, according to new testimony<\/a> submitted to Congress on Monday.<\/p>\n

The ombudsman, Neil Barofsky<\/a>, said in supplemental written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he also has yet to see another 1 million pages under review by UBS lawyers for potentially privileged information.<\/p>\n

Independent prober Neil Barofsky is heading the investigation into the case. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The delay of the probe is complicating a related $1.25 billion settlement with Holocaust victims.<\/p>\n

Barofsky, along with forensic research firm AlixPartners, has allegedly been blocked from probing 127 instances of possible \u201clooting of Jewish assets\u201d by \u201cNazi-affiliated German bank clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and the research company also have allegedly been prevented from pursuing \u201ccredible leads\u201d into the Swiss bank\u2019s links to the SS and the \u201cratlines\u201d that helped the Nazis flee to Latin America after World War II.<\/p>\n

Nearly 900 Credit Suisse accounts had potential ties to dictator Adolf Hitler\u2019s war efforts, the independent probe found so far. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m concerned UBS\u2019s recent heavy-handed approach to this investigation may prevent important historical facts from coming to light,\u201d Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese new details call into question UBS\u2019s candor to the committee and its commitment to a thorough investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a Feb. 3 Senate hearing, UBS executives publicly testified<\/a> that \u201cfewer than 150 documents\u201d out of 16.5 million have yet to be handed over to the ombudsman and stated the same in a related federal court hearing the following month.<\/p>\n

But the bank privately acknowledged to holding onto thousands more documents in emails to Barofsky\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m concerned UBS\u2019s recent heavy-handed approach to this investigation may prevent important historical facts from coming to light,\u201d Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said Monday. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Barofsky\u2019s\u00a0investigation of additional Nazi account holders has complicated a $1.25 billion settlement with Holocaust victims. Obatala-photography \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Barofsky testified that some documents marked as a single document are in fact larger productions containing \u201cover 1,000 pages each.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grassley fired off letters to UBS general counsel Barbara Levi and President UBS Americas Robert Karofsky citing \u201cnumerous unanswered questions\u201d as a part of his committee\u2019s inquiry and demanding a response to the ombudsman\u2019s follow-up written testimony by April 24.<\/p>\n

Barofsky, who was fired and then rehired under pressure from Congress as an\u00a0independent monitor<\/a> to oversee Credit Suisse\u2019s review of its Nazi-linked accounts, revealed findings from his\u00a0internal probe<\/a> in February that showed 890 accounts with potential ties to dictator Adolf Hitler\u2019s war efforts.<\/p>\n

UBS acquired rival bank Credit Suisse as part of\u00a0a more than $3 billion emergency takeover<\/a>\u00a0in March 2023, forcing it to take on terms of a settlement reached between the latter bank and Holocaust victims in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

The Simon Wiesenthal Center in a 2020 report first disclosed as many as 12,000 Nazis<\/a>\u00a0who fled to Argentina were linked to accounts at a Credit Suisse predecessor \u2014 and its associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, also testified before the Senate Judiciary panel in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrevious efforts to investigate Swiss banks\u2019 role were significant, but they were incomplete,\u201d Cooper told the judiciary panel members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was largely left untouched were Nazi-linked accounts, shell corporations and financial networks that helped Nazis safeguard their criminal proceeds and escape justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

UBS general counsel Barbara Levi said Barofsky\u2019s access to all files was dependent on a court order. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Barofsky is expected to conclude his probe by the end of this year but noted in his testimony filed Monday with the committee that UBS set a \u201cself-imposed deadline\u201d of July 31, 2026, for all of its document productions, complicating his efforts.<\/p>\n

UBS reps have previously<\/a> referred to documents not disclosed to Barofsky as \u201ca limited set of files and communications protected by attorney-client privilege, which relate to the 1990s Holocaust class-action litigation and the 1999 Settlement Agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bank\u2019s historic voluntary review focuses on the World War II-era activities, not the litigation that resulted in the 1999 Settlement Agreement,\u201d the reps have said.<\/p>\n

A UBS rep told The Post in a statement Monday, \u201cUBS has shown unwavering commitment to this historical review, underpinned by substantial financial resources and continuous engagement. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe bank has been and will continue to be transparent with the Committee and shares its objective to shed light on the historical record by delivering a final report by year end.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 UBS has been accused of withholding tens of thousands of records about former subsidiary Credit Suisse\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[129],"tags":[27714,1548,7178,27001,69,27715,223,1048],"class_list":["post-48139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ubs","tag-chuck-grassley","tag-credit-suisse","tag-investigations","tag-nazis","tag-politics","tag-senate","tag-ubs","tag-us-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116399045702385752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}