Nearly three decades after the world thought the Holocaust bank cases were closed, new revelations are shaking Switzerland’s financial foundations — and the reverberations are being felt all the way to Washington.
A new investigation, based on Ami Magazine’s October 2025 report by Riva Pomerantz and legal filings reviewed by the Miami Mirror, suggests that UBS, the world’s largest wealth manager, may have concealed undisclosed Nazi-era assets inherited from the Basler Handelsbank, one of its prewar predecessors.
If proven, the allegations could reopen the 1998 Holocaust bank settlement — the landmark $1.25 billion deal that was supposed to bring justice, closure, and transparency to a dark chapter in global finance.
The Settlement That Wasn’t the End
When U.S. District Judge Edward Kormann approved the 1998 Swiss Banks Settlement, it was hailed as a historic act of restitution. Survivors and heirs received compensation, and the remaining archives were sealed inside the Jewish Museum of Washington, under federal protection.
But new evidence points to unreported accounts linked to Nazi officials, corporate affiliates, and industrial financiers — accounts that may have quietly survived the postwar transition into UBS’s modern structure.
“This is not a reopening of history,” says Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik, Vice President of AEA Justinian Lawyers, who represents Rabbi Ephraim Meir, heir to several of the missing accounts. “This is the completion of justice that was left unfinished.”
The Legal Breakthrough: Fraud on the Court
Podovsovnik’s team has invoked Fraud on the Court, a powerful legal mechanism under U.S. law that nullifies any settlement obtained through deception.
“Fraud on the Court means that if UBS concealed evidence from the federal judiciary, the entire case reopens automatically,” Podovsovnik told the Miami Mirror. “It’s not about time limits — it’s about truth limits.”
If the claim holds, UBS could be forced to open its wartime and postwar ledgers, produce merger records, and release the long-sealed archives of the Basler Handelsbank, absorbed by UBS decades ago. The court could also impose a global asset freeze if noncompliance is found.
Mossad Connects the Dots
Intelligence reviewed by Ami Magazine and Miami Mirror shows that Mossad analysts traced Nazi-linked assets into complex postwar financial networks. Their findings suggest that gold and currency moved through Swiss accounts were later converted into securities and funneled through U.S. shell corporations and European investment structures still linked to UBS holdings.
“These are verified transfers, not theories,” says Podovsovnik. “We can trace specific chains of Nazi assets into modern vehicles. The money didn’t disappear — it evolved.”
According to sources familiar with the investigation, these financial structures may still exist under U.S. jurisdiction, making them subject to discovery and potential seizure.
The Lauder Warning
Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress and one of the architects of the 1998 deal, believes that billions of dollars were left outside the restitution framework.
“Between five and ten billion dollars were never addressed,” Lauder said in a statement. “This was not full transparency — it was partial justice. The truth has a way of resurfacing.”
Lauder’s remarks have reenergized the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is already investigating dormant Nazi-linked accounts once held by Credit Suisse, now part of UBS following the 2023 merger. Lawmakers are now asking whether UBS’s own archives tell a different story.
UBS’s Position and the Moral Question
UBS continues to assert that it has complied with all legal and ethical obligations stemming from the 1998 settlement. Yet historians and restitution experts argue that compliance is not the same as closure.
“UBS is the living archive of Switzerland’s wartime neutrality,” says Professor Matthieu Leimgruber of the University of Zurich. “The question is no longer legal — it’s moral. Will they choose transparency or silence?”
Under Fraud on the Court, the case can be reopened without limitation, and additional charges could follow under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) if systematic concealment is proven — including triple damages.
“The law doesn’t forget,” Podovsovnik says. “When evidence is destroyed or hidden, time stops counting.”
Mossad’s Shadow and the Financial Trail
Sources close to the case confirm that Mossad’s financial intelligence has tied specific wartime accounts to postwar assets in North America, with records showing re-registrations in Delaware, New York, and the Cayman Islands.
“These transfers were too sophisticated to be accidental,” one investigator told the Miami Mirror. “They were designed to hide, not to vanish.”
If verified, the revelations would mean that Nazi-linked capital not only survived but prospered — quietly compounding within modern financial systems that never realized their origins.
What Comes Next
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is expected to release its updated report on Nazi-era financial assets later this year. If the evidence confirms fraud or suppression of records, the courts could order:
- Reopening of the 1998 Swiss Banks Settlement,
- A RICO investigation into postwar asset concealment, and
- A comprehensive forensic audit of UBS and its predecessor institutions.
The potential impact could reach far beyond Switzerland, reshaping standards for global banking transparency and historical accountability.
“This is not vengeance,” says Podovsovnik. “It’s law. Every sealed ledger, every hidden deposit, every secret transfer must finally see daylight. The world deserves the truth.”
Editor’s Note:
This article is based on Ami Magazine’s October 2025 investigation by Riva Pomerantz, as well as corroborating legal and intelligence materials.
Several claims remain under verification and ongoing judicial review.
