Christoph Meili

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Christoph Meili
Born
Michel Christopher Meili

(1968-04-21) April 21, 1968 (age 56)
Alma mater
Holocaust-era
documentation.

Michel Christopher "Christoph" Meili (born 21 April 1968) is a Swiss-American

whistleblower and former security professional. In 1997, Meili illegally disclosed to third parties that Swiss bank Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) was destroying documentation of Holocaust-era assets. After a federal arrest warrant, a set of fines, and death threats were issued to him, Meili fled Switzerland to the United States by right of asylum
in late 1997, returning to his home country in 2009.

His disclosure was one of the factors prompting a US$1.25 billion settlement between multiple Swiss banks and Jewish victims in August 1998. Meili was entitled to $750,000 of the settlement. He returned to Switzerland having spent all his settlement money and to mixed reception by Swiss papers.

In early 1997, Meili was working as a night guard at the

ex officio in Switzerland.[10]

After Meili and his family reported receiving death threats, they fled to the United States and were granted

Facts (17 March 2005), Meili did receive US$750,000.[20][21]

Meili studied

United States citizen.[22] In an interview with the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick on 21 October 2006, however, Meili re-iterated his criticism of Fagan and the Jewish organizations who had once championed him, stating again they had let him down. Meili, who then lived in Southern California, stated in an interview that he was working for a minimum wage.[23][24] In 2009, divorced from his wife, Meili returned to Switzerland.[25][26]

Effect of whistleblowing

In his book Imperfect Justice, activist

Stuart Eizenstat claimed the "Meili Affair" was important in the decision of Swiss banks to participate in the process of reparations for victims of Nazi looting during World War II. He wrote that the affair "did more than anything to turn the Swiss banks into international pariahs by linking their dubious behavior during and after the War to the discovery of a seemingly unapologetic attempt to cover it up now by destroying documents."[27] Eizenstat indicates that the affair influenced the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) decision to create a Humanitarian Fund for the Victims of the Holocaust, and that the Fund was suggested to the SBA by Rainer Gut, chairman of Credit Suisse.[28] as well as one of a series of events influencing the London Conference on Nazi Gold (1997).[29]

Filmography

Daniel von Aarburg filmed the events, and the

documentary Affäre Meili - Ein Whistleblower zwischen Moral und Milliarden premiered in mid-August 2018.[30]

Awards

References

  1. ISBN 1-58648-110-X
    ., p. 94
  2. ^ Eizenstat, pp. 94-95
  3. ^ Eizenstat. p. 95
  4. ^ Parliamentary Initiative 96.434: Bundesbeschluss betreffend die historische und rechtliche Untersuchung des Schicksals der infolge der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft in die Schweiz gelangten Vermögenswerte (in German) Archived 2008-02-26 at the Wayback Machine. Entry in force since 14 December 1996. This edict was the legal basis and foundation of the Bergier commission, constituted on 19 December 1996. Articles 4, 5, and 7 made the destruction or withholding of documents relating to orphaned assets illegal.
  5. ^ Chronology: Switzerland in World War II – Detailed Overview of the years 1994-1996.
  6. ^ a b Kantonsparlament Zürich: Protokoll der Sitzung von Montag, 20 April 1998 (DOC-Datei; 416 kB) (Word-Dokument).
  7. ^
    ISBN 3-280-06009-5
    .
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 20, 2009. Retrieved 2007-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ Bundesgesetz über die Banken und Sparkassen (Bankengesetz, BankG), Swiss Law:, Article 47 (in German). Accessed 3 November 2006.
  10. ^ Schwarb, T.M. "Ich verpfeife meine Firma" – Einführung in das Phänomen Whistle-Blowing (in German) Archived 2007-03-25 at the Wayback Machine, Fachhochschule Solothurn, July 1998; accessed 3 November 2006.
  11. ^ a b c Bank guard enters ranks of `righteous gentiles'. National Catholic Reporter, 16 April 1999.
  12. ^ U.S. Congress: Bill S. 768: A bill for the relief of Michel Christopher Meili, Giuseppina Meili, Mirjam Naomi Meili, and Davide Meili, private bill sponsored by New York Senator Alphonse D'Amato (R-NY), signed into Private Law 105-1 by President Bill Clinton on 29 July 1997; accessed 30 October 2006.
  13. ^ PRNewswire: L.A. Jewish Community Honors Christoph Meili At May 8th Dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. 1 May 2000. Accessed 30 October 2006.
  14. ^ "Nach elf Jahren hat Christoph Meili genug von den USA: «Ich komme heim in die Schweiz – für immer". 28 March 2009.
  15. ^ Meier, Barry (November 29, 1998). "Jewish Groups Fight for Spoils Of Swiss Case". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06.
  16. ^ Walder, Noeleen G. (12 December 2008) "Lawyer Disbarred for Failing to Pay Sanctions, Fees in Holocaust Case", New York Law Journal; retrieved 15 October 2009.
  17. ^ Fuchs, Mary (24 June 2009). "Lawyer Edward Fagan is disbarred in N.J. for misusing Holocaust victims' funds", New Jersey Real-Time News; retrieved 14 October 2009.
  18. ^
    World Jewry'
    ', 28 February 2002; United Jewish Communities; accessed 30 October 2006.
  19. ^ Meili, Ch. (interview recorded by P. Diermeier) Christoph Meili interview (in German) Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, Die Weltwoche 38/03 (2003); accessed 30 October 2006.
  20. Facts, Der Bumerang Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
    , Facts 05/11, p. 10; 17 March 2005.
  21. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2006-10-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ^ a b c Basler Zeitung: Wachmann Meili wurde US-Bürger (in German) Archived 2014-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, 14 May 2005; accessed 30 October 2006.
  23. Sonntagsblick
    , 21 October 2006; accessed 30 October 2006.
  24. ^ Basler Zeitung: "Banken-Coup: Christoph Meili möchte die Uhr zurückdrehen" (in German) Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine; accessed 30 October 2006.
  25. ^ "Meili kehrt in die Schweiz zurück". Berner Zeitung (in German). 29 March 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  26. ^ "Security guard Christoph Meili returns to Switzerland - as hero or villain?". Swissinfo.ch. 9 April 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  27. ^ Eizenstat, Imperfect Justice, p 94
  28. ^ Eizenstat. Imperfect Justice, p. 98.
  29. ^ Eizenstat. Imperfect Justice, pp. 112-115
  30. ^ Gila Blau (12 August 2018). ""Ich würde es wieder tun"". tagesanzeiger.ch. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  31. ^ "Guard who turned over Swiss banking files seeks protection in U.S. Senate visit". CNN.
  32. ^ Cohen, Aryeh (17 September 1997). "Swiss bank guard honored". The Jerusalem Post. p. 5. Meili was given an award for humanitarian values and ethics at Boys Town Jerusalem, a religious boarding school. The prize was founded in memory of Jan Zwartendijk, an honorary Dutch diplomat who helped Jews escape from Lithuania by issuing bogus visas to Curacao.
  33. ^ "About Us". 1939club.com. 7 June 1998. Archived from the original on 4 December 2004. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  34. ^ Tugend, Tom (7 February 2002). "A Hero's Struggles". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
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