At its highest levels, Russian corruption over the past 20 years has been disguised by networks of shell companies and facilitated by foreign banks willing to turn a blind eye to state embezzlement, according to Karen Dawisha, a political science professor at Ohio-based Miami University.
Resolving the growing tension between data privacy restrictions and anti-money laundering laws and overseeing the next round of mutual evaluations will define Russia's stewardship of a global anti-money laundering group, say analysts.
A House panel Thursday advanced sanctions legislation that would blacklist individuals deemed responsible for the detention and death of a Moscow attorney who uncovered an alleged tax fraud scheme.
U.S. banks should consider increasing their scrutiny over transactions originating from Russia as widespread allegations of election fraud is expected to fan political instability and capital flight, say analysts.
Bank of New York Mellon and the Russian government finalized an expected settlement Thursday of a lawsuit that had sought $22.5 billion for tax revenue lost to a money laundering scheme.
Settlement talks between the Bank of New York Mellon and Russia over the country's alleged loss of taxes on $7.5 billion have stalled, according to a lawyer representing the federation.
Russia has offered to drop a controversial $22.5 billion lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon in exchange for an $800 million settlement, a Russian financial newspaper reported Tuesday.
Bank of New York Mellon is for the first time talking about a possible settlement in a $22.5 billion lawsuit brought by Russia over revenue purportedly lost in a money laundering scheme, according to news reports.
Belarusian authorities arrested Emanuel Zeltser, a Russia-born lawyer who practices in New York, on March 12, claiming he had entered the country with forged documents relating to a lawsuit over the disputed inheritance of Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili.
The Russian government has hired celebrated U.S. attorneys Alan Dershowitz and G. Robert Blakey to testify about U.S. RICO laws as part of its $22.5 billion lawsuit against the Bank of New York Mellon for its alleged role in a money laundering scheme.
The Russian government is seeking three times the amount of Russian money a Bank of New York employee helped launder through the institution under the U.S. Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act.
The Russian Customs Service sued the bank under U.S. law, the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act, in May for unpaid tariffs after a rogue bank employee helped transfer more than $7 billion out of Russia through illicit wire transfers. The case is being heard in a Russian court.
The Russian Customs Service is set to open its case in a $22.5 billion money laundering-related lawsuit against the Bank of New York on Monday after a hearing was delayed this week, a bank spokesman said.
The bank, which is based in the Netherlands, said Thursday that it has set aside €365 million in anticipation of the settlement of a Justice Department criminal probe into ABN's dollar clearing activities, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions compliance and other issues.
Former Bank of New York executive and convicted money launderer Lucy Edwards says financial institutions should be wary of their employees and knowledgeable about their outside business dealings.