Nothing is Too Late: The Hunt for a Holocaust Swindler - Hardcover

Kalmansohn, Mark E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574886851 ISBN 13: 9781574886856

Publisher: Potomac Books Inc, 2004

Synopsis

Nothing Is Too Late tells the true story of the mysterious and treacherous Lucian Kozminski, a survivor of four Nazi death camps and an alleged SS collaborator, who embarked on a scheme to steal huge sums of money that the postwar German government had set aside as restitution for Holocaust survivors. After the war, Kozminski escaped fraud charges in Germany, emigrated to the United States, and established a phony business as a counselor to aid applicants to the German fund. Doggedly pursued by then–Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Kalmansohn and U.S. Postal Inspector Lou Kinzler, Kozminski was accused of bilking more than $1 million dollars from some 3,000 Holocaust survivors worldwide and was convicted of mail and bankruptcy fraud. In 1982, an unrepentant Kozminski was sentenced to a jail term that should have kept him behind bars for most of his remaining years.

Just a few years into Kozminski’s sentence, however, Kalmansohn discovered that Kozminski may have duped even the corrections system. Government records purported to show him "incarcerated" at the same time he was seen walking the streets. Then Kalmansohn heard reports of Kozminski’s death but found compelling evidence that Kozminski had faked his own death and might still be alive.

Kalmansohn asks, Why does Kozminski’s death certificate bear another’s Social Security number? Why did his ex-wife say he was buried, while his death certificate declares cremation? Why is he absent from the crematorium’s records? Why were Social Security payments deposited in his bank account for years after his supposed death? Why have multiple witnesses reported seeing Kozminski long after his official date of death? These and many other haunting questions will keep the reader turning the pages of this stirring account.

About this title

About the Author

MARK E. KALMANSOHN is a former assistant United States Attorney and currently practices entertainment and intellectual property law in Century City, California. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

From Publishers Weekly

This exciting account tracks the pursuit of a master con artist with a particularly evil twist—Lucian Kozminski is a Holocaust survivor who has bilked other survivors out of as much as $1 million in reparation funds paid to them by the German government. Kalmansohn, a young assistant U.S. attorney in the early 1980s, was charged with finding Kozminski and bringing him to justice. Fluidly, he relates how he and a fellow investigator chased their elusive prey, interviewing aging and ailing Holocaust survivors, poring over mounds of documents in Polish, Yiddish, Russian and other languages and following the money trail. Kalmansohn obtained a conviction after legal ins and outs worthy of a Law and Order episode, and Kozminski received a long sentence. So how was it that Kalmansohn saw the thief walking down the street in Beverly Hills only a few years later? And did Kozminski really die in 1996—or was that just another con? Kalmansohn’s tale is well told and a fascinating look at an unusual case of a victim-turned-predator.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1574886851
• ISBN 13: 9781574886856
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304