Jewish Trust claims Deutsche Bank over $3bn

The North American Wertheim Jewish Education Trust in the United States is demanding back payment from Deutsche Bank of nearly $3 billion, claiming the bank wrongly withheld the money from the heirs of a wealthy German family, as Bloomberg reported.

The Jewish charitable trust filed its complaint at a Florida federal court on Wednesday, claiming the bank refused to return funds originally deposited by the wealthy Wertheim family before the rise of the Nazis.

For Deutsche Bank the looming conflict is an extra-sensitive addition to a pile of lawsuits the bank faces across the world.

Deutsche Bank has “refused to cooperate with the heirs of the Wertheim family fortune in the recovery and return of the monies that they are withholding from the rightful heirs,” and preventing the use of the funds for charitable and other purposes, according to the complaint filed in Fort Lauderdale. 

Given the sensitivity of the issue, a spokesman said Deutsche Bank was “taking the matter very seriously” but denied the new charges, calling them “completely unfounded.” The spokesman said the same lawsuit has already been filed – and dismissed – in other U.S. states. “All proceedings initiated against Deutsche Bank in this matter have been decided in favor of Deutsche Bank,” he added.

The Wertheims, known in Germany for the founding of luxury department store KaDeWe in Berlin, fled Germany for Spain and in 1931 initially deposited their money in an account at what is now the Credit Suisse Group. These accounts were later transferred to Deutsche Bank, according to the complaint seen by Bloomberg. When Karl Wertheim, one of the descendants, died in 1945, the estate passed to his wife, Maria, who managed the fortune until the early 1970s, according to the lawsuit.

Through a complex series of events, the assets were transferred in 1993 to Deutsche Bank, which misled the Wertheim heirs for many years about the accounts, according to the complaint.