Banker and Husband Tell Of Role in Laundering Case
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A former executive of the Bank of New York and her husband told a federal judge yesterday that they helped a group of small but politically connected Russian banks create an elaborate money laundering scheme that moved billions of dollars out of Russia through the American bank. After more than 18 months of investigation, federal authorities delivered Lucy Edwards, a former Bank of New York vice president, and her husband, Peter Berlin, to the United States District Court in Manhattan. They described how between 1996 and last year, more than $7 billion left Russia illegally and flowed through a network of front company accounts at the Bank of New York that were controlled by Mr. Berlin. From there, the money was transferred to offshore accounts. The network, according to the couple, was designed by Russian bankers to whisk money electronically between Russia and the United States for three broad purposes: to evade Russian taxes on money from legitimate business transactions, to avoid Russian customs duties on imports and to ”wash” the profits of outright criminal enterprises through legitimate banks, including a $300,000 ransom payment in 1998 to the kidnappers of a businessman in Russia. More : query.nytimes.com |