Documents uncovered in Cyprus reveal that three banks based in New York – Citibank, Bank of America, and HSBC – were engaged by Imperium Services Ltd., a Cyprus trustee company, to receive Lebedev’s cash and open deposits for a Cyprus entity he called North Sintez International Trust. At opening, Citi (below, left) was holding $98.4 million of Lebedev’s money; Bank of America (right), $17.9 million; and HSBC of New York, $33.4 million.
In their originating transactions with North Sintez, and in their subsequent payments of interest on these funds, the American banks appear to have violated US money-laundering laws and regulations. The banks also appear to have failed to uncover evidence that Lebedev was obliged to report his income to the US Internal Revenue Service. According to unverified sources, the 59-year old Lebedev, who emigrated from Russia to the US in his twenties, and lived there in the 1980s and early 1990s, held a US passport between September 2001 and September 2011.…
Pretty sordid all around. What else is new at the top. Dances with Bears
Cyprus, Russian Fraud Investigations Close In On Leonid Lebedev – Us Banks Accused Of Money Laundering John Helmer