(JNS.org) More than three years after the discovery of fraudulent activity at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (“Claims Conference”), which continued for about a decade and a half and deprived Holocaust survivors of more than $57 million, former Claims Conference Director of Hardship and Article 2 Funds Semen Domnitser and two co-conspirators on Wednesday, May 8 were convicted on charges of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
During the course of a prolonged investigation that began in 2009, 31 people — including 11 employees of the Claims Conference — were criminally charged and arrested in the conspiracy. Twenty-eight defendants pled guilty. U.S. v. Domnitser et al., the case against the three who pled innocent — Domnitser, Oksanna Romalis, and Luba Kramish — had started April 8 at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in New York City. Sentencing is set for Sept. 10.