According to The Jerusalem Post, Jewish Agency Chairman and Claims Conference board member, Natan Sharansky has joined fellow Claims Conference board member and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder with a call for an independent probe to investigate allegations against senior executives of the Claims Conference: Sharansky made his call in a letter to Conference chairman Julius Berman in which he “recommended that a public independent committee of distinguished members who are not connected to either the Board of the Directors or the beneficiaries be established, in order to investigate the allegations so that the public trust in this important organization not be damaged...” Lauder, who has called the allegations facing conference leaders a “long-term issue with potentially … [Read more...]
Sharansky Joins Lauder in Call for Independent Claims Conference Probe
Fraud Trial Ends in Convictions
After half-a-day of deliberations, a jury convicted Semyon Domnitser - the highest ranking insider to participate in the fraud against the Claims Conference - and two co-conspirators who recruited applicants who received benefits to which they were not entitled. With the verdicts against these three defendants, all 31 people who played roles in the theft of $57 million dollars intended to benefit victims of the Nazi genocide have been convicted. A statement released by the Claims Conference following the verdict announcement says, "Since the Claims Conference first brought this case to the FBI and USAO in December 2009, the authorities have shown the utmost dedication to investigating this crime and prosecuting those responsible. The Claims Conference fully cooperated with federal authorities in … [Read more...]
Inside the Claims Conference Fraud Trial
by Maxine Dovere JNS.org More than three years after the discovery of fraudulent activity at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (“Claims Conference”), which continued for about a decade-and-a-half and allegedly deprived Holocaust survivors of more than $57 million, the trial of 31 accused of participating in the fraud is underway. During the course of a prolonged investigation that began in 2009, 31 people - including 11 employees of the Claims Conference - were criminally charged and arrested in the conspiracy. Twenty-eight defendants pled guilty. U.S. v. Domnitser et al., the case against the three who pled innocent - Luba Kramish, Semen Domnitser, and Oksanna Romalis - began April 8 at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in New York City. If convicted, they … [Read more...]
Newly Opened Museum Aims to Show Jews Not a ‘Footnote to Polish History’
by Maxine Dovere JNS.org WARSAW - The Museum of the History of Polish Jews is built on the hallowed ground of the Warsaw Ghetto, literally on a site of genocide, at the intersection of Gesia and Nalewki Streets. The main entrance faces a plaza dominated by the Nathan Rapoport memorial, which commemorates the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. “Where else would it be built?” asked H.E. Ewa Juncyk-Ziomecka, Consul General of Poland in New York. … [Read more...]
Germany and Claims Conference Agree on Continued Payments, Homecare for Holocaust Survivors
The German government committed today, through an agreement signed with the Claims Conference, to continue compensation payments to eligible Holocaust survivors and providing funding for homecare for elderly victims. … [Read more...]
Brooklyn Woman Sentenced to 18 Months in Claims Conference Fraud
Polina Breyter, 69, a former caseworker and employee of the Claims Conference who participated in a $57 million fraud scheme targeting programs established to aid the survivors of Nazi persecution, was sentenced Friday in Manhattan federal court to 18 months in prison. According to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, “Eighteen of 31 people charged have now pled guilty and face the same prospect of prison as a result of this wide-ranging fraud.” In addition to her prison term, Breyter, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced to one year of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $22,000 and pay restitution in the amount of $461,875.65. … [Read more...]
