Swastika Found At UES Bank Prompts Police Probe, Lawmaker Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The unsettling discovery of Nazi symbols on cash distributed by an Upper East Side ATM has prompted a police investigation, according to a neighborhood lawmaker.

Robyn Roth-Moise encountered the hateful imagery Saturday morning, when she stopped by the Chase Bank on York Avenue and East 86th Street to withdraw cash for gifts.

After folding the bills and putting them away, she was startled hours later when she unfurled the cash and noticed a blue swastika stamped onto a $100 bill.

"I literally was in shock," Roth-Moise told Patch.

Several other bills bore different symbols whose meaning was unclear. But the swastika alone was enough for Roth-Moise to raise alarms, contacting local officials and asking Chase to shut down the ATM — fearing that it contained more bills with similar insignias. (The incident was first reported by Upper East Site.)

@East86th @JulieMenin @RepMaloney @SenSchumer @NYCMayor #Nazi symbols being circulated on the uppereastside @Gus4NY @timmintonNY @nytimes @nypost @BenKallos @NYDailyNews @SeawrightForNY @UESPatch money from the ATM this morning. #HateSpeech @Chase @SecretService pic.twitter.com/A0ij2MGijk
— NYCRobyn 📷 (@NYCRobyn) January 8, 2022

Roth-Moise said Chase was hesitant to take action, closing the ATM only hours later, after City Councilmember Julie Menin contacted the company.

"This is unacceptable. We have shut down the ATM and are investigating," a Chase spokesperson said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright raised the issue in a meeting Monday night with the NYPD's 19th Precinct, and was told that the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force would investigate the incident, a spokesperson for Seawright told Patch.

"This outrageous act will not be tolerated," said Seawright, whose office was itself the target of multiple anti-Semitic attacks in 2020.

"We are in contact with the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force and will seek a thorough investigation to determine who is responsible for this detestable expression of hate."

Comedy club's post sparks outrage

Roth-Moise said she remains rattled by her discovery, since it was closely followed by another apparent instance of anti-Semitism in the neighborhood: an anti-vaccine social media post by the local comedy club Comic Strip Live.

That post, first reported by Upper East Site, included the hashtags "#Fmandates" and "#nurenberg" in the caption of a photo of the American flag — seemingly comparing the city's vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany.

Those references have since been removed from the post — but Menin is still pressing for an apology, penning a letter Monday to the club's general manager.

"I am disappointed in Comic Strip Live's decision to condone hatred and division in our community and call on you to issue a formal apology condemning the toxic comparisons between COVID-19 mandates and the atrocities of the Holocaust," Menin wrote.

Comic Strip Live did not respond to an email requesting comment, and Menin said Monday that she had not heard from the club since sending the letter.