Accounts Receivable

When Karl Wertheim secured his fortune under secret numbered accounts in Switzerland he knew he had outsmarted the Nazis. But nearly 80 years later the vast inheritance has somehow disappeared deep in the bowels of a German bank. “These are very sophisticated banks that aren’t going to misplace this kind of money” says Rodal. “Our position is straightforward. They have the money. They have the account numbers” (Photos: AFP/Imagebank)yes

F rom an office in Dania Beach Florida attorney Yechezkel (Chezky) Rodal has gone to battle against a German bank he claims has absconded with a family fortune worth $3 billion.

The suit filed on behalf of the Wertheim Jewish Education Trust against Deutsche Bank alleges that the bank has refused to return the vast sums that were transferred to its coffers in the 1990s funds belonging to heirs of the Wertheim family fortune whose trust fund has been earmarked for Jewish education causes.

The accounts date back more than 80 years as the fortune crisscrossed from Spain to Switzerland where it was protected by Credit Suisse during the Nazi regime under secret numbered accounts and pseudonyms. Those accounts according to the lawsuit were later transferred to Deutsche Bank.