While the Nazi regime famously looted Europe of its great works of art during World War II for personal use, Adolf Hitler and his henchmen actually paid for some of those masterpieces before they were supposedly returned to their rightful owners by the U.S. military after the conflict.

Yet a Houston attorney and his law firm have filed a lawsuit in a South Carolina federal court against the Dutch government seeking restitution for 143 valuable paintings on behalf of an American heir to Jewish art dealers who were forced to sell the art to the Nazis. The paintings are now hanging in some of The Netherlands’ finest museums.