The Swiss Bank settlement brought together a fascinating cast of characters. Most have continued on with their careers. A few, like Judge Korman and various Court-appointed “Special Masters” have continued to administer the process over the years. Whether any of them now regret getting involved is anyone’s guess.
A surprisingly large number of central figures in this story, however, wound up in personal controversy. Here is a quick tour:
With ironic timing, UBS, the venerable Swiss bank company accused of Holocaust-era wrongdoing and signatory to the agreement eleven years ago, just today settled a lawsuit filed against it by the U.S. government seeking the disclosure of names of American tax-evaders allegedly sheltered by the bank.
Lawyer Edward Fagan, who played an instrumental role in advancing the original complaint against the Swiss banks, was eventually accused of mishandling Holocaust survivors’ trust money and disbarred this past June.
Another prominent plaintiff attorney and signatory to the agreement, Melvyn Weiss, pleaded guilty in 2008 to a kickback scheme and is currently serving prison time.
One of the key campaigners against the Swiss banks, Senator Alphonse D’Amato of New York, fell to defeat in 1998 in part because Jewish voters recoiled from his self-serving invocation of the Holocaust during the campaign. (also here)
Another influential New York elected official whose actions propelled the Swiss settlement, City and later State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, also saw an abrupt end to his political career when he pleaded guilty to defrauding the government.
The two organizational representatives who signed the Swiss agreement on behalf of "world Jewry" wound up traveling interesting roads as well.
Rabbi Israel Singer, the secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, was fired in 2007 (and then resigned the presidency of the Claims Conference) after a New York Attorney General investigation revealed that he had misappropriated WJC organizational funds for personal use and tried to cover it up.
Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament and top executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, retired from politics and last year published a controversial book on Holocaust identity, Israel and Zionism, “The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise From its Ashes.”
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