A woman living in Toronto has been formally charged in the U.S. with taking part in a scheme to steal from a Holocaust survivors’ fund.
In documents obtained by CBC News, the FBI alleges that Luba Kramrish was part of a conspiracy that falsified documents to claim financial support from a special fund created by the German government after the Second World War.
Germany set up the fund, which is administered by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, to compensate those who lived through the Holocaust. The money was earmarked for people who fled parts of the Soviet Union, ahead of advancing Nazi soldiers and those who somehow managed to survive ghettos and concentration camps.
Germany set up the fund, which is administered by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, to compensate those who lived through the Holocaust. The money was earmarked for people who fled parts of the Soviet Union, ahead of advancing Nazi soldiers and those who somehow managed to survive ghettos and concentration camps.
The FBI announced charges against several U.S. citizens allegedly involved in the scheme in 2010. Now court documents show the investigation has reached into Canada.
In one case, the FBI says, she falsified details to get money for a man who never lived in an area occupied by Nazis. The U.S. indictment says that when he got the money, she took a cut.
A court document states “Kramrish provided documents for approximately 20-25 different cases…[she] helped falsify these applications so that they would be approved.”
An elderly camp survivor living in New York, Roman Kent, says he was shocked when told about the charges. “My reaction was, how could it be possible? Who could be so low as to try to cheat or steal money from Holocaust survivors?”
The FBI found that the very people who had listened to the stories of survivors had massaged the details and used fake names to submit claims of their own.
The investigation is still underway, but it is estimated that at least $60 million has been siphoned from the fund.
Kramrish’s Canadian lawyer told the CBC that she is not interested in talking about the U.S. indictment.
In the meantime, the German government has tightened restrictions on who can get the money. In some cases, authorities have been forced to ask actual survivors of the Holocaust to prove yet again that they were victims. more at source
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