Alperin v. Vatican Bank

The class action suit against the Vatican Bank and Franciscan Order was filed by attorneys Tom Easton and Dr. Jonathan H. Levy in San Francisco, California on November 15 1999.

The plaintiffs are concentration camp survivors of Serb, Jewish, Roma and Ukrainian background and their relatives, as well as organizations representing over 300,000 Holocaust victims and their heirs.

The plaintiffs seek an accounting and restitution of the Ustashe Treasury that, according to the US State Department, was illicitly transferred to the Vatican, the Franciscan Order and other banks after the end of the war, in order to further the goals of the Ustasha Regime in exile and fund the infamous Vatican ratline.

Defendants currently include the Vatican Bank and Franciscan Order, accused of concealing assets looted by the Croatian Nazis from concentration camp victims, Serbs, Jews, Roma and others between 1941-1945.

The case against the Vatican Bank defendant was dismissed by the United States District Court on April 7, 2008 and has been appealed to the Ninth Circuit. The case against the Franciscan order continues in District Court as of August 2008.

http://www.vaticanbankclaims.com/5AC.pdf

See also

• Vatican Bank

• Phayer, Michael (2008). Pius XII: The Holocaust and the Cold War. ISBN 978-0-253-34930-9.

External links

• "Nazi-Era Victims Demand Army, CIA Release Documents on Vatican". CNS News. 2000-09-04.
• Pleading paper
• Vatican Bank Claims
• Time Magazine on Ustasa Gold in Vatican Bank
• The Fate of the Ustasha Wartime treasury (official US Gov't report)