US investors seeking millions of dollars in legal battle over pre-World War II German bonds
By Curt Anderson, APMonday, September 6, 2010
US investors seek pay for pre-WWII German bonds
MIAMI — American investors are taking the German government to court in the U.S. over tens of thousands of bonds sold by the country in the aftermath of World War I.
They’re asking federal courts to force Germany to repay the 80-year-old bonds, which today could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The German government says the lawsuits are baseless and that bondholders must go through a validation process enshrined in German law.
But the bondholders say a nightmarish maze of bureaucratic red tape has been built around the validation process.
Action has been heating up in lawsuits filed in Miami, New York and Chicago, including a victory for investors last month when an appeals court rejected Germany’s attempt to dismiss their case.
