This investigation is based on reporting by Riva Pomerantz, first published in Ami Magazine (October 2025), which revealed new documents, testimony, and intelligence linking UBS to undisclosed Nazi-era assets.
When Judge Edward Kormann signed the 1998 Holocaust-era Swiss Banks Settlement, the world believed the chapter on Nazi-era accounts was finally closed. Boxes of records, correspondence, and frozen ledgers were transferred to a secure U.S. Federal Court archive — later sealed inside the Jewish Museum of Washington, where they remain to this day.
But new evidence now suggests the settlement may not have ended the story at all — only sealed away the truth behind it.
The Return of the Forgotten Accounts
Emerging intelligence from Israeli and American sources points to a disturbing possibility: that UBS, successor to the Basler Handelsbank and custodian of Switzerland’s pre-war financial system, may have hidden vast off-balance-sheet deposits linked to Nazi-era clients.
The man leading the counteroffensive is Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik, Vice President of AEA Justinian Lawyers, the world’s second-largest legal network with more than 10,000 attorneys. Representing Rabbi Ephraim Meir, heir to six principal and twelve subsidiary accounts believed to have been used by top Nazi officials during World War II, Podovsovnik has invoked one of the strongest tools in U.S. procedural law — Fraud on the Court.
“When You Lie to a Court, You Lie to the Nation”
“Under American law,” explains Podovsovnik, “Fraud on the Court is not a technicality — it’s a red line. Once there’s evidence that a defendant deceived a federal court, the entire burden shifts. The bank must prove its innocence. It must open every vault, every ledger, every hidden trust. This is no longer about privilege — it’s about truth.”
In plain terms, UBS may now face an Order to Show Cause, requiring it to justify why it should not be sanctioned for concealing evidence, and a Discovery Order compelling the full release of all internal records — including password-protected ledgers from 1933 to 1945, postwar trust transfers, and offshore entities allegedly used to hide assets.
If UBS refuses, Podovsovnik warns, the next steps are clear: a global asset freeze and a constructive trust imposed on all suspect holdings.
Lauder’s Warning: “Billions Left on the Table”
U.S. billionaire and World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder, who helped negotiate the 1998 settlement, has called for renewed transparency. He told investigators he believes that between five and ten billion dollars in Nazi-linked assets were never included in the original deal.
His warnings have caught the attention of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which continues to investigate dormant Nazi-linked accounts once managed by Credit Suisse — now part of UBS following its 2023 acquisition.
The Basler Handelsbank Legacy
At the heart of the controversy is the Basler Handelsbank, a pre-war Swiss bank absorbed into UBS after World War II. Historical records show it handled accounts for industrial and political figures within Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945.
According to Meir’s legal filing, his inherited accounts — six “Führer main accounts” and twelve coded subaccounts — were never part of the 1998 restitution settlement and remain hidden. Podovsovnik argues that UBS, as the successor entity, now holds both the assets and the moral responsibility of its predecessor.
“UBS inherited not just wealth but obligation,” he says. “Justice requires transparency. Until that happens, there can be no closure.”
The Mossad Trail
According to confidential briefings shared with Ami Magazine and corroborated by internal documents reviewed by the Chicago Times Herald, Mossad intelligence confirmed that UBS-linked assets were concealed within postwar financial networks — layered through Delaware shell corporations, private equity vehicles, and investment structures that persisted long after 1945.
“These findings are not speculative,” Podovsovnik told reporters. “We now have verified transfer chains — Nazi gold turned into postwar securities, still traceable, still under UBS control. The assets are in America, and that means U.S. jurisdiction applies. This case will now get serious — very serious.”
He paused, then added: “If UBS continues to hide, it’s not protecting history anymore — it’s obstructing justice in real time.”
Allegations of Record Suppression
Sources close to Meir’s investigation claim irregularities occurred during the work of the Claims Resolution Tribunal (CRT II), which managed Holocaust-era restitution claims in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
According to these sources, files from Jewish claimant families were destroyed or withheld, and internal communications reference former officials Dov Rubinstein and Dr. Brita Delmas, both of whom were connected to compliance oversight at the time.
“If those records were removed or destroyed,” says Podovsovnik, “that constitutes obstruction — Fraud on the Court in the clearest sense.”
Fraud on the Court — and Its Consequences
In American jurisprudence, Fraud on the Court occurs when a litigant deceives a federal judge through concealment, falsified evidence, or destruction of key documents.
Once proven, the original judgment or settlement is void — regardless of time elapsed. “Justice doesn’t expire,” says Podovsovnik. “If a tribunal was misled, the case reopens automatically.”
The principle also allows for charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which carries triple damages when fraud is carried out through coordinated enterprise activity.
UBS’s Continuing Obligation
UBS maintains that it is cooperating with the ongoing U.S. Senate inquiry into Credit Suisse legacy accounts. However, historians and restitution lawyers insist that transparency must extend further — to UBS’s own wartime archives.
“UBS today represents the last living memory of Switzerland’s financial complicity,” says historian Matthieu Leimgruber of the University of Zurich. “Unless those archives are opened, speculation will remain.”
A Warning to UBS Leadership
Podovsovnik emphasizes that the current UBS board is not accused of direct wrongdoing — but that knowledge imposes legal duty.
“The present executives are not the original perpetrators,” he says, “but once they know of concealment and fail to disclose, they become accessories after the fact. Silence is complicity.”
AEA Justinian Lawyers is expected to formally contact UBS Group AG in Zurich and UBS Americas in New York to demand full cooperation and immediate document production.
“This is the moment for UBS to choose transparency over secrecy,” Podovsovnik says. “Either they expose the truth or the court will do it for them.”
Echoes of 1945 — and 2025
The sealed Kormann files stored at the Jewish Museum of Washington may soon return to center stage. For decades, the world accepted that all Holocaust-era accounts had been disclosed. The new evidence suggests otherwise — that the most significant deposits, the so-called “Führer Accounts”, were deliberately hidden through mergers and coded ledgers.
“We are not reopening history,” says Podovsovnik. “We are finishing it. Every hidden coin, every silent account, every buried record must come to light. This is not vengeance — it’s law.”
The Battle Ahead
What began as a closed case may evolve into one of the largest asset-recovery actions in modern financial history. Judicial orders, intelligence findings, and cross-border discovery could pierce the corporate shield that has protected Swiss banking secrecy for decades.
If successful, the case of Rabbi Ephraim Meir v. UBS Group AG could reopen the 1998 settlement, trigger RICO proceedings, and compel a global forensic accounting of all Nazi-linked assets under UBS stewardship.
As Dr. Podovsovnik told the Chicago Times Herald:
“We are not asking UBS for favors. We are demanding justice.
If they truly believe in their legacy, they’ll open the books.
If not — the court will open them for them.”
Editor’s Note
This article is based on Ami Magazine’s investigation “Nazis, Swiss Banks & the Jewish Money That Vanished” (October 2025) by Riva Pomerantz, with corroborating intelligence and legal materials.
All claims regarding UBS, the Basler Handelsbank, and the Claims Resolution Tribunal (CRT) are attributed to that publication or official legal filings. Some details remain under verification and are subject to ongoing investigation.
