In the BONY case, Lucy Edwards has thus far named two Russian banks which she said were involved in money laundering–the Depositarno-Kliringovy Bank (DKB) and Flamingo Bank–whom, she said, she helped set up branches in the United States without obtaining licenses from the Federal Reserve Bank. An official of the Depositarno-Kliringovy Bank has denied Edwards’ accusations (Moscow Times, February 17-18, 22; ORT, February 19). According to some Russian media, another bank, MDM, was involved in the BONY money laundering scheme. One of MDM’s top officials is Aleksandr Mamut, who is reportedly close to two other Kremlin insiders–the tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Sibneft chief Roman Abramovich (Versiya, February 22). Last October, NTV television alleged that the Kremlin administration was the “krysha” (roof, meaning protection) for a scheme to launder money illegally abroad in which MDM, among others, was involved (see the Monitor, October 11, 1999). Meanwhile, Swiss investigators last week formally asked the United States for assistance in their own investigation into a Swiss connection to the BONY case. Swiss investigators have also been probing alleged kickbacks from Swiss firms to top Russian government officials and the alleged embezzlement of funds from Aeroflot, Russia’s state airlines, through Swiss companies allegedly set up by Berezovsky (Reuters, February 17). There is reason to believe that there is overlap between these two cases and the BONY case.