A Montreal businessman who accuses an ex-partner of having inherited gold from Nazi concentration camps will have to pay $400,000 to two members of his family.
The allegations, unfounded, were particularly infamous within the Jewish community, from which they both come, the court ruled.
Since 2019, Glenn J. Feldman has assured without proof that Irwin Lande received part of the inheritance of a German chemist exiled in Montreal after the Second World War, a distant relative, including hundreds of millions in gold stolen from the Jews by the Third Reich.
Mr. Feldman, a lawyer and real estate developer, even suggested that Mr. Lande hid gold bars in his Montreal home, a mansion on the side of Mount Royal recently offered on the market for 35 million – making it the most expensive house in Quebec. The main person concerned completely rejects the theory of his ex-business partner.
The lawyer committed serious misconduct by repeating these allegations to anyone who would listen and by contacting numerous personalities and organizations in the Jewish community to encourage them to investigate, ruled Superior Court Judge Thomas Davis.
“The information presented to the court does not stand up to the slightest analysis,” wrote the magistrate, in a decision dated February 8. “Even if Feldman believed his theory to be true, he should have realized that the evidence he had was very incomplete and not released it. A prudent person would not have spread this story the way he did. »
“Serious consequences for reputations”
The man was ordered to pay $400,000 to Andrew Feifer and Jonathan Jacob Feifer, two nephews of Irwin Lande. They were affected by the allegations because Feldman accused their late mother (Irwin Lande’s sister) of having also dabbled in Nazi gold. “Given the nature of the remarks [de M. Feldman], which are more painful because Andrew and Jonathan’s grandparents are Holocaust survivors, moral damages are necessary,” Judge Davis wrote. “Mr. Feldman’s allegations are extremely serious and have serious consequences for the reputations” of the two Feifer brothers.
Half of this amount must cover the legal costs of the two brothers. Instead, they demanded total compensation of nearly 3 million.
Irwin Lande is suing his ex-business partner for the same reasons, from whom he is demanding 16 million. The procedures are still ongoing. In 2022, Mr. Feldman was temporarily disbarred from the Quebec Bar for peddling his theory.