Alleged Russian mob leader denies laundering money

The Associated Press

MOSCOW -- A reputed Russian mob leader denied accusations that he was involved in the alleged laundering of billions of dollars through an American bank, according to a jocular interview with him published Saturday.

"I can only dream of such money. All these accusations are the nightmarish delirium of the FBI," Semyon Mogilevich told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. "If I could earn -- not steal -- a third of that money, my life would be a success."

Mogilevich said he had laundered money only once in his life: "I washed $5 dollars worth of Russian currency I'd left in my shirt, not noticing that they had been left in the pocket. I want to say that the money looked a lot cleaner and brighter after that."

Money laundering is the process of moving ill-gotten gains through a series of bank accounts until they appear to be legitimate profits from legal businesses.

Mogilevich has long denied any involvement with organized crime, though he has been linked to a company called Benex, which had accounts at the Bank of New York that raised the suspicion of U.S. investigators.

Moskovsky Komsomolets didn't say where Mogilevich was when he gave the interview published Saturday, though he is believed to be based in Budapest, Hungary.

No one has been charged with wrongdoing in the alleged laundering of between $4.2 billion and $10 billion by the Russian mob through the Bank of New York. The case is potentially the biggest money- laundering affair ever uncovered in the United States.

On Friday, the Bank of New York fired a London-based executive, Lucy Edwards, who was in charge of its Eastern European operations. The bank wouldn't elaborate on Edwards' dismissal, but Dow Jones Newswires reported that the institution suspected her of misconduct and falsifying records.

Another Russian-born Bank of New York executive, Natasha Gurfinkel Kagalovsky, has been suspended. Her husband, Russian businessman Konstantin Kagalovsky, also has been implicated in the scandal.

In an interview on Russian television Saturday, Konstantin Kagalovsky again denied he and his wife were involved in the scheme. He said the scandal was being blown out of proportion by U.S. politicians battling about aid to Russia, which is expected to be a sensitive issue in next year's U.S. presidential elections.

In response to a U.S. investigation into the bank, Russia's Federal Securities Commission said Friday it would audit 33 Russian companies with dealings with the Bank of New York. The companies include oil giants Lukoil and Sibneft, Russia's largest automaker Avtovaz and several other major firms, the Interfax news agency reported.

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