ARMENIAN AMERICANS CALL ON DEUTSCHE BANK TO RETURN STOLEN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE-ERA ASSETS
ArmRadio.am
13.12.2006 12:20
Armenian Americans from all fifty states are calling on Deutsche Bank,
the Germany-based financial giant, to stop obstructing the return of
stolen Armenian Genocide-era assets, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA).
The grassroots campaign is fueled by citizens throughout the country
troubled that Deutsche Bank continues to block the rightful return of
assets belonging to heirs of Armenians killed in the Armenian Genocide,
despite the good faith efforts toward a settlement by lawyers for
a group of Armenian Americans who have filed a class action lawsuit
against the firm.
Activists are sending letters directly to Dr. Josef Ackermann,
the Chairman of Deutsche Bank. The WebFax letter allows concerned
individuals to call on Dr. Ackermann to "personally ensure that
Deutsche Bank fully lives up to its legal, financial, and moral
obligations by returning all assets your firm unlawfully holds from the
victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 to 1923." The
letter goes on to criticize the firm’s current conduct, noting that,
"compounding your firm’s guilt in this matter has been its illegal and
immoral conduct in the years following the Armenian Genocide. Rather
than taking steps to return stolen property, Deutsche Bank actively
avoided meeting its responsibilities through acts of evasion and
concealment, as well as other measures intended to prevent these funds
from being recovered by survivors and the heirs of victims. Now,
having profited from the use of these funds over the course of the
last nine decades, your firm is today actively obstructing efforts
to secure their rightful return."
Deutsche Bank has more than $1.32 trillion in assets and over
67,000 employees operating in nearly 1,600 branches across 73
countries. Experts estimate that Deutsche Bank illegally withheld more
than $20,000,000, in World War I-era dollars, from Armenian victims and
survivors of the Armenian Genocide. A class action lawsuit against the
firm to secure the return of these assets has been filed by attorneys
Mark Geragos, Brian Kabatack, and Vartkes Yeghiayan.
The lawsuit states that the Deutsche Bank systematically thwarted the
recovery of millions of dollars in assets deposited by Armenians prior
to and during the Armenian Genocide. In addition, the lawsuit seeks
damages for Armenian assets forcibly taken by the Ottoman Turkish
government during the Armenian Genocide. The same three lawyers
recently settled similar lawsuits against New Y ork Life and AXA for
a total of $37.5 million for the wrongful withholding of insurance
policy proceeds held from the Armenian Genocide era.