A fund dedicated to collecting reparations for Holocaust survivors from the German government was defrauded more than $42 million in the span of 16 years.
The 17 indicted were charged with using faked identification, falsified government records and Holocaust history to manipulate the stories of recruits applying for compensation from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. If payment was approved, the group then accepted kickbacks from applicants.
Applicants were recruited mostly in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn through Russian language newspapers, federal prosecutors said. US Attorney Preet Bharara unsealed the indictment yesterday, reported The New York Times.
The conference was created in 1951 to compensate Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.
“The alleged fraud is as substantial as it is galling,” Bharara said at a news conference. Agents arrested 11 of the defendants Tuesday morning after a year-long investigation; 5 were previously charged.
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