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August 4, 2000/3 Av 5760, Vol. 52, No.47
Swiss deal finally approved
STEWART AIN
New York Jewish Week
NEW YORK - The judge overseeing the $1.25 billion Swiss bank settlement with Holocaust survivors and their heirs approved the deal Wednesday - nearly two years since an agreement was reached.
The action by Brooklyn Federal Judge Edward Korman set in motion a series of events that could eventually see the bulk of the money disbursed beginning early next year.
Under terms of the settlement, victims or heirs of bank depositors who can prove their claims are to be paid even if the settlement is appealed.
Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, said several million dollars already has been paid to a total of 3,100 claimants following the banks' publication of the names of 5,500 dormant account holders. The banks have agreed to publish sometime in the future the names of another 26,000 dormant account holders.
Within 30 days after the judge approves the settlement, Judah Gribetz, the special master appointed to recommend how to allocate and distribute the settlement, must file his report.
Hearings are to be held before the judge issues a final ruling sometime in the fall. But along the way, appeals may be filed against the proposed allocation and distribution plan and against Korman's final settlement itself.
"An appeal would be devastating to the victims," said Edward Fagan, who filed the first class-action suit by survivors against the Swiss banks. "Once you file an appeal, you basically interfere with the ability of the court to quickly distribute the money. Anyone who files an appeal is doing so not necessarily out of a sense of moral or global justice but out of selfish reasons."
The two-year delay in presenting Korman with a final settlement of the Swiss banks' case stemmed from refinements sought by all sides. Survivors wanted to ensure that the settlement did not preclude their right to sue for Swiss insurance claims that have gone unpaid and for looted artwork that found its way into the hands of Swiss bankers.
They also wanted the banks to adhere to the recommendation of an outside group of auditors who said the banks should publish all 4.2 million Holocaust-era accounts.
Steinberg said the banks balked at that and that survivors' representatives agreed to cut the figure in half.
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