Alperin v. Vatican Bank

Alperin v. Vatican Bank was an unsuccessful class action lawsuit filed by Holocaust survivors against the Institute for the Works of Religion ("Vatican Bank" or "IOR") and the Franciscan Order ("Order of Friars Minor"). The case was filed in San Francisco, California on November 15, 1999.

The suit alleged that the Vatican Bank and the Franciscans accepted and laundered assets looted by the Ustaše regime in Croatia during World War II. The case was initially dismissed in 2003 by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on the grounds that it presented a political question. However, in 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reinstated part of the case, drawing attention for its treatment of claims under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

In 2007, part of the complaint against the Vatican Bank was dismissed on the basis of sovereign immunity, and the remaining claims against the bank were dismissed due to lack of a sufficient connection (nexus) to the United States. The Ninth Circuit upheld that decision in February 2010.

By that point, only the Franciscan Order remained as a defendant. In March 2011, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the claims against the Franciscans. The case was not appealed further. As a result, no part of the lawsuit ever proceeded to trial, and none of the plaintiffs' allegations were established in court.