Deutsche Bank AG was sued by a Jewish charitable trust, the Wertheim Jewish Education Trust LLC, in Florida, claiming the firm unfairly withheld up to $3 billion from the heirs of the wealthy German family. Specifically, the lawsuit states that the bank refuses to return funds initially deposited in accounts before the rise of the Nazis in Germany. The heirs claim that the bank is preventing the use of the funds for charitable and other purposes. After the funds were ultimately transferred to Deutsche Bank in 1933, the heirs asserted that the bank continually misled them about the accounts over the next several decades.
See Susannah Nesmith & David Voreacos, Deutsche Bank Sued in U.S. by Jewish Trust over $3 Billion, Private Wealth, January 20, 2017.
