A legal watchdog group has petitioned the Trump administration to investigate an international firm that allegedly concealed its ties to Nazi Germany in its business dealings in the United States, potentially misleading American investors and violating consumer protection laws. That firm plays a major role in the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain.
Kuehne+Nagel International AG—a German-founded company now based in Switzerland that provides transportation and logistics services to some of the most prominent corporations in the world—may have committed securities fraud by failing to fully disclose its ties to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, according to the Lawfare Project, a global network of legal professionals aiding the Jewish community.
Kuehne+Nagel handles logistics for some of the United States’ largest pharmaceutical firms, including Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Moderna, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sinovac. Long before it became a major player in the U.S. market, Kuehne+Nagel “expelled its Jewish partner under Nazi persecution and profited by transporting looted Jewish property from occupied Europe,” the Lawfare Project wrote in its letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi. “This profiteering formed a cornerstone of the company’s post-war wealth.”
The legal group formally petitioned the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission to initiate parallel probes into Kuehne+Nagel over “Holocaust profiteering, tainted assets, and consumer protection,” according to a copy of the Aug. 28 letters obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. A third missive addressed to New Jersey attorney general Matthew Platkin raises similar legal concerns in the Garden State, where Kuehne+Nagel’s U.S. operations are based.
Kuehne+Nagel’s failure to fully disclose its sordid past exposes the company to potential civil and federal litigation that could disrupt its work as a central logistics cog in America’s pharmaceutical supply chain, according to current and former Trump administration officials who spoke to the Free Beacon. Should Kuehne+Nagel find itself on the receiving end of lawsuits, the resulting fallout could throw the entire pharmaceutical industry into disarray.
With the administration already working to limit the role foreign firms play in America’s critical supply chains, Kuehne+Nagel could find itself the subject of federal scrutiny as a result of the Lawfare Project’s legal complaints. If the federal and New Jersey governments investigate Kuehne+Nagel and take action if they find evidence of wrongdoing, they could potentially prevent the chaos that lawsuits could bring.
“These letters raise serious concerns and I am sure they will be taken seriously,” the official said after reviewing the Lawfare Project’s legal complaints. “President Trump’s America First agenda is delivering strong wins for the American people and strengthening our economy by reducing our reliance on foreign companies for our critical supply chains.”
Unlike many German conglomerates that engaged in similar activities during World War II, “Kuehne+Nagel has refused to open its archives or commission an independent investigation into its Holocaust-era activities,” the Lawfare Project wrote. The group argued Kuehne+Nagel’s reluctance to do so represents not just a moral failure, but a legal one as well.
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 requires foreign companies that do business inside the United States to disclose “reputational, legal, and regulatory risks that could impact investors,” the Lawfare Project wrote. “By failing to disclose these risks, Kuehne+Nagel’s U.S. filings and corporate communications may omit material information, thereby misleading U.S. investors.”
The pharmaceutical firms with which Kuehne+Nagel does business, in addition to partners like Texas-based bus line Greyhound, could be exposed to potential litigation from Kuehne+Nagel shareholders or the U.S. government as a result of the German firm’s silence.
“This isn’t just about moral outrage; it’s about legal accountability,” Lawfare Project senior counsel Gerard Filitti told the Free Beacon. “Kuehne+Nagel—and the companies that do business with them—aren’t simply ignoring history, they’re inviting lawsuits, regulatory scrutiny, and shareholder backlash. Activism is what shines a light on these ties, but the law is what ensures there are consequences.”
Portions of Kuehne+Nagel’s Nazi history are already well documented. Brothers Alfred and Werner Kühne ousted their Jewish partner, who would later die at Auschwitz, after Hitler rose to power. The brothers went on to earn a fortune transporting stolen Jewish property from Western Europe to Germany as part of a Nazi looting scheme known as “M-Aktion.”
Jewish activists in recent months have pressured Kuehne+Nagel to open the company’s archives, a common practice among prominent firms that worked with the Nazis. The pressure campaign has so far failed to yield results, prompting the Lawfare Project to call on the Trump administration to take action.
A senior health policy official in the first Trump administration who remains close to the president’s team told the Free Beacon that Kuehne+Nagel’s role as a major player in the pharmaceutical industry is cause for concern given its past.
“Americans would be shocked to learn that the same company that handled logistics for Hitler’s expropriation of Jewish property is now playing a critical role in our pharmaceutical supply chain,” said the former official. “I expect the administration will take a close look at the risk factors of continuing to rely so heavily on Kuehne+Nagel to keep our pharmacy shelves stocked.”
The SEC, for instance, could “initiate a review of Kuehne+Nagel’s disclosure practices to determine whether its Holocaust-era conduct and refusal of transparency constitute material omissions under U.S. securities laws,” according to the Lawfare Project. It could also “consider enforcement action compelling Kuehne+Nagel to make corrective disclosures.”
The Justice Department, meanwhile, “has broad jurisdiction to address foreign corporations operating in the United States whose assets may derive from illicit or unjust enrichment.” The DOJ’s civil asset forfeiture statutes allow the federal government to confiscate funds that can be traced back to “crimes against humanity and looting,” according to the Lawfare Project. Consumer protection laws additionally stipulate that those doing business in the United States “may not mislead consumers regarding their corporate history, origins of wealth, or ethical compliance.”
Multiple independent legal analysts told the Free Beacon the Lawfare Project’s complaints are legitimate.
Mark Goldfeder, an attorney who serves as CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, said “corporate silence in the face of documented historical misconduct is not a shield from liability.”
“Under U.S. law, companies that operate here have disclosure obligations, both to their investors and—in many cases—to regulators,” he told the Free Beacon. “It raises potential securities fraud, consumer protection, and even civil RICO issues. There are also avenues under state unfair trade practice statutes, shareholder derivative actions, and Holocaust-era restitution claims, any of which could be triggered once the concealment is exposed.”
Thane Rosenbaum, a scholar and legal analyst for CBS News Radio, noted Kuehne+Nagel’s unwillingness to acknowledge the extent of its Nazi ties and make restitution in the decades since the Holocaust—unlike many other German corporations—is relevant to the case.
“Kuehne+Nagel didn’t do so then, and, apparently, they don’t have any interest in doing so now,” Rosenbaum said. “[The company] has a moral duty to, at the very least, open its archives to achieve a historical record of how much they profited doing the bidding of the Nazis and hauling their booty.”
Kuehne+Nagel did not respond to a Free Beacon request for comment on the Lawfare Project’s complaints and the legal concerns raised therein.
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