U.S. Lawyer Threatens Berlin with Lawsuit Over Stolen Art

Controversial American lawyer Ed Fagan has announced an $18 billion lawsuit against the German government. Standing in front of the German Finance Ministry in Berlin on Wednesday, Fagan said German governments had profited from artworks that the Nazis had allegedly stolen from the victims of the Holocaust. He said the Finance Ministry possessed 2,000 "tainted" works of art worth €15 billion. With the help of the newly-established Association of Holocaust Victims for Restitution of Artwork and Masterpieces, Fagan wants to initiate lawsuits not just against Germany, but also against France, Austria and the United States. Fagan first became famous through his lawsuits against Swiss banks. A spokesman for the German Finance Ministry said that, as far as he knew, artworks whose owners weren't known were being held in a trust run by the government which attempted to locate the rightful owners of the works of art. The spokesman also pointed out that Germany had also handed back over a million art objects to their Jewish owners.