Ex-Yahoo chief acquitted over Nazi relics
A French criminal court acquits the former CEO of Yahoo of condoning war crimes by selling Nazi memorabilia.
The court found that Timothy Koogle and Yahoo did not condone or praise Nazism and that they had not shed favorable light on the policies of Adolf Hitler by selling objects from the Third Reich.
Koogle, who left his post at Yahoo in 2001, had in theory faced up to five years in jail and a fine of $49,000 (45,700 euros) in a trial triggered by a complaint filed by three France-based Jewish and anti-Semitism groups in October 2001.
It is illegal under French law to exhibit or sell objects with racist overtones, and Yahoo's French site offered no Nazi auctions. But French surfers could still purchase the relics from the main Yahoo site based in the United States.
In November 2000, France ordered Yahoo to block French people from accessing the sites, but a U.S. federal judge ruled a year later that the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company was not bound to tailor its non-French sites to French laws.
Yahoo has since banned the sale of most Nazi memorabilia, such as concentration camp uniforms and Nazi daggers. Current auctions feature only Third Reich stamps, transport tokens and coins.
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