What is the Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation?
(For the judgment concerning the Holocaust Victims Asset Litigation, see www.swissbankclaims.com) In late 1996 and early 1997, a series of class action law suits were filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York against certain Swiss banks, alleging that the Swiss banks collaborated with and aided the Nazi Regime by knowingly retaining and concealing assets of Holocaust Victims and by accepting and laundering illegally obtained Nazi loot and profits of slave labor. In the course of these lawsuits, the parties commenced settlement discussions. In August 1998, the parties reached an agreement to settle the lawsuits for US $1.25 billion that was signed on January 26, 1999 (“Global Settlement”). In exchange for the settlement amount paid by the Swiss banks (“Settlement Fund”), the plaintiffs and class members agreed to release and forever discharge the Swiss banks, the Swiss Government, and Swiss industry from, among other things, any and all claims relati
