Russia's Customs Agency Sues Bank of NY for $22.5 billion

Russia’s federal customs service is seeking $22.5 billion in damages from Bank of New York Co.

“From 1996 to 1999, the Bank of New York took part in a money laundering scheme in which the Russian Federation suffered $22.5 billion worth of harm,” lawyer Maxim Smal said after filing the suit at Moscow’s arbitrage court.

Lucy Edwards, a former vice president in Bank of New York’s Eastern European division, and her husband Peter Berlin pleaded guilty to conspiring to help move laundered funds through accounts at the bank. Bank of New York in 2005 agreed to pay $38 million to resolve a long-running federal probe into the conspiracy.

Russia wants a little more money because of it.

The Russian Federal Customs Service declined to comment on the current case, and Bank of New York representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.