Descendants Of Matyas Fischer, Holocaust Victim, Sue European Banks For Allegedly Stealing Millions

16.07.2012 (Bonnie, Kavoussi, Huffington Post) Descendants Of Matyas Fischer, Holocaust Victim, Sue European Banks For Allegedly Stealing Millions

Matyas Fischer with his wife and six sons in their backyard in Serbia (then in Yugoslavia) around 1938. The youngest child is Paul Fischer, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against several European banks.

A recent lawsuit claims that three major European banks have stolen millions from a Holocaust victim and his descendants.

The descendants of Matyas Fischer, a former bank owner who died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust, sued Erste Group, the Bavarian State Bank and the Hungarian National Bank in federal district court on July 5 for allegedly hoarding millions of dollars that belong to them, according to the complaint.

The Fischer family claims that the banks owe them at least $38 million for unreturned assets that include gold coins, foreign currency and diamonds worth an estimated $18 million, as well as bank deposits, cash, art, jewelry, records, securities and mortgaged buildings and properties. The Fischers accuse the banks of unjustly enriching themselves, violating international law and aiding genocide.

Since World War II, many banks have been restructured to form bigger banks. When accounting for mergers and acquisitions, these three banks now are responsible for the Fischer family's assets, Kenneth McCallion, the Fischer family's lawyer, told The Huffington Post.

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