DOES MONEY LAUNDERING PAY?
(Expert Opinions)

THOMAS A. RENYI
CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF THE BANK OF NEW YORK

"Allowing these accounts to remain open and active without sufficient questioning was a lapse on the part of the bank. " Renyi's testimony before the House Banking Committee.

(HOWEVER...)               

"I am pleased to report that [BoNY] has once again set new records for financial performance attaining the highest earnings in its history for the eighth consecutive  year." (Renyi's statement in The Bank of New York 1999 Annual Report)

(THEREFORE...)

BONY's compensation committee determined that "Renyi has no direct responsibility for the events resulting in the inquiry."

(AND...)

Renyi's pay in 1999 was:

Salary: $6.7 million
Stock Option Grants: $11.2 million
Stock Option Exercises: $7.6 million
Unexercised Stock Options: $48.9 million

Bank of NY's Renyi got7 $12.1 million bonus in 2000 , 03/20/2001 (REUTERS)

(SO...)

Renyi remains BoNY's CEO and Chairman. The stock of the Bank amidst the money laundering revelations reached all times highs. 

LUCY EDWARDS
FORMER SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF THE BANK OF NEW YORK

"From late 1995 until 1999, as a vice president of Bank of New York, I agreed with my husband, Peter Berlin, and other people and entities to set up accounts at the Bank of New York for three entities, Benex, BECS and Lowland, for various purposes which were illegal under United States law. I did so to facilitate the movement of funds into and out of Russia, and to accomplish a number of objects which either knew were unlawful or deliberately closed my eyes to that I had reason to know was unlawful activity.

I personally undertook various acts in order to further this illegal agreement... In these transactions, I acted to benefit myself and my husband, and to develop more Russian business for the Eastern European Division of the Bank of New York..." (Edwards' admissions to money laundering crimes in Manhattan Federal Court)

Edwards pleaded guilty to money laundering, unlicensed banking activity and immigration fraud, but was never sentenced.

NATASHA GURFINKEL- KAGALOVSKY, FORMER SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF THE BANK OF NEW YORK

"I hope to find justice in Russian Courts ..." Kagalovsky resigned from her 900,000+ job at BoNY amid the FBI investigation into money   laundering matters and sued BoNY in Moscow court for being used as a scapegoat to distract attention from "serious problems in other parts of the bank" and "to protect the employees of American origin who were really connected with the accounts under investigation." Her suit seeks $270 million in damages against the bank and the executives even though BoNY offered her to exercise millions of dollars in stock options. Gurfinkel was never charged and resides in luxurious limestone in a fashionable area of London. In Nocvember of 2001, BoNY settled with Kagalovsky for $5 million  in exchange for her agreeing to testify against BoNY shareholders in a Federal lawsuit in New York. More ...

VLADIMIR VINOGRADOV FORMER PRESIDENT OF INKOMBANK

"Perhaps there are people wealthier people than me in Russia, I don't know..." (Statement in an interview) More ...

SEMYON MOGILEVICH
NOTORIOUS RUSSIAN DON AND "SILENT PARTNER" IN INKOMBANK

"I used to be a rich man, not anymore" (Statement in an interview)  More...