Hundreds of Swiss bank accounts with suspected Nazi links found by investigators

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. UBS has said it wants to bring greater transparency to Switzerland’s dark chapter helping the Nazis in World War II. In Brooklyn federal court, UBS has a different message for the Jewish organization that asked for the Credit Suisse probe in 2020, the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Be quiet, and don’t ask us for any more money. The issue will get an airing in Congress Tuesday when an independent investigator delving into archives at UBS’s Credit Suisse unit testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen.

Chuck Grassley, the committee chairman, said that investigator Neil Barofsky has found close to 900 accounts that may be tied to Nazi officials and party members. Barofsky also found indications the bank helped fleeing officials resettle in Argentina, Grassley told journalists. For decades after World War II, Swiss banks turned away the families of Holocaust victims, saying they had no records of their loved ones’ accounts and assets.

Neutral Switzerland denied suggestions it helped to finance the Nazis and prolonged their terror. A settlement struck in the late 1990s with UBS and Credit Suisse—resulting in nearly $1.3 billion in payments—came after years of diplomatic wrangling, and denials by the banks that they were harboring any significant amounts of money for Jewish victims or had done any meaningful business with Nazis. UBS has voluntarily and extensively cooperated with the Barofsky probe, according to prepared remarks to the Senate committee from UBS Americas President Rob Karofsky.