The Trump administration is being urged to investigate Swiss banking giant UBS over allegations that the bank has obstructed congressional efforts to uncover the full extent of its predecessor’s ties to the Nazi regime, including accounts allegedly connected to stolen Jewish assets and postwar escape routes used by SS officers fleeing to Argentina.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has called on Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, to examine UBS’s handling of an ongoing investigation into Credit Suisse, which UBS acquired in 2023. Grassley said the matter involves unresolved questions about Nazi-linked bank accounts, looted Jewish money, gold, art, and financial channels allegedly used to assist Nazi fugitives after World War II.

The probe centers on Credit Suisse and its predecessor banks, which have long faced scrutiny over Holocaust-era accounts. According to Reuters, an investigation led by former federal prosecutor Neil Barofsky uncovered 890 previously undisclosed accounts with potential Nazi links, including accounts associated with the German Foreign Office, the SS, and a German arms manufacturer. Barofsky also told senators that his review found evidence that Credit Suisse transferred funds from Jewish-held accounts to Nazi-affiliated clients and had deeper ties to the SS than previously known.

Grassley has accused UBS of impeding that investigation by withholding or heavily redacting documents sought by Barofsky and congressional investigators. In remarks last month, Grassley said Barofsky had informed the committee that about 23,000 pages of materials had been redacted or withheld as of March 11, 2026, and that UBS had failed to fully respond to questions submitted by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Barofsky has also said UBS refused to pursue credible leads involving Nazis and their facilitators, the looting of Jewish assets, and the operation of so-called “ratlines” that helped Nazi officers escape Europe after the war. Grassley criticized UBS for setting what he described as an arbitrary July 31, 2026, deadline for parts of the investigative work, saying the bank should not impose deadlines “at the expense of quality of the investigation.”

UBS has defended its handling of the matter, saying it has turned over millions of documents and is committed to completing a full historical accounting. UBS Americas President Robert Karofsky told senators earlier this year that the bank’s priority is to complete the review so the findings can be made public. The bank has also said it “deeply regrets” the role Swiss banking played during World War II and noted that UBS and Credit Suisse previously reached a global Holocaust-era settlement in 1999.

That $1.25 billion settlement, reached with Holocaust victims and their families, has become a central point of contention. UBS recently asked a federal judge in Brooklyn to clarify that the 1999 agreement shields the bank from any future Holocaust-related claims tied to Credit Suisse’s wartime conduct. The Simon Wiesenthal Center opposed UBS’s request, arguing that the bank was seeking to broaden the settlement and restrict public discussion of newly uncovered evidence.

The current investigation traces back to allegations raised by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in 2020 that Credit Suisse held previously undisclosed Nazi-linked accounts. UBS said after acquiring Credit Suisse that it was working with Barofsky to review the records and provide a comprehensive accounting of legacy Nazi-linked accounts.

Grassley said the earlier investigations of the 1990s did not bring full justice to Holocaust victims and the Jewish people, and argued that the federal government now has a responsibility to ensure that the remaining questions are answered. He said UBS’s current posture has created doubt over the credibility of the final report and called on the bank to stop “playing games” with the investigation.

Barofsky’s final report is expected later this year. Its findings could determine whether Credit Suisse’s Nazi-era activity was broader than previously known — and whether assets linked to Holocaust victims and Nazi financial networks were left out of earlier settlements and historical reviews.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)