On 8 January 1997, UBS night guard Christoph Meili said he discovered officials destroying records concerning dormant or “orphaned” assets linked to deceased Jewish clients, books from Germany’s Reichsbank, and records involving companies and property connected to Nazi-era seizures. Meili removed bank files and gave them to a Jewish organization; Swiss media reported the destruction on 14 January. Zürich authorities opened a criminal investigation into Meili for allegedly violating banking-secrecy laws, while he and his family reported death threats and later received political asylum in the United States.
The disclosure intensified international pressure on Swiss banks and became one factor in an August 13, 1998 settlement totaling $1.25 billion for Jewish plaintiffs. Meili was reportedly entitled to $750,000, although he later alleged that lawyer Ed Fagan and Jewish organizations had failed him; Fagan was subsequently disbarred in New York and New Jersey for misconduct including misappropriating client and escrow funds. Zürich’s investigation of Meili was canceled later in 1998. The affair also influenced the creation of a Swiss bankers’ humanitarian fund and broader negotiations over Nazi-looted assets, leaving document preservation and institutional accountability as lasting issues.
