Ghoulish scammers swindled $42.5 million from two funds intended to help needy Holocaust survivors, prosecutors charged Tuesday.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and the FBI announced charges against 17 people involved in the rip-off.
Court papers said employees of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which administered the accounts, were behind the long-running scheme.
The scammers submitted fraudulent applications in exchange for a percentage of the money disbursed, the papers said.
One of those charged was Semyon Domnister, the director of the funds until he was fired last February.
The conference, which has offices in Manhattan, contacted the FBI in December 2009 when it suspected the funds were being looted.
One fund established in 1980 provides a one-time payment of $3,600 to Jews who fled Nazi persecution.
The other fund was set up in 1995 and provides a monthly stipend of $411-a-month to impoverished Jews who spent time in a concentration camp or lived in a Jewish ghetto under a false name to elude Nazi capture.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/11/09/2010-11-09_holocaust_survivor_scam_nets_425_million_17_charged_in_shameful_ripoff_prosecuto.html
Topic: Holocaust survivor scam nets $42.5 million, 17 charged in swindle: prosecutors (Read 578 times)