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To: Alex who wrote (39678)	8/27/1999 7:17:00 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116814

Friday August 27, 12:49 am Eastern Time Russian bank fraud probe expanding - report WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - U.S. investigators, alarmed by the extent of possible money laundering by Russian crime groups in U.S. and European banks, are expanding their probe to include a wide array of U.S. aid programs to Russia, USA Today reported on Friday. The newspaper quoted one senior U.S. official, who is part of the investigating team as saying, ``The more we dig, the more we find.' The official told USA Today the full extent of the money laundering could exceed $15 billion and be spread over more than the current five accounts under investigation. He and other investigators also disclosed that tens of millions of additional dollars are missing from a special bank account set up by the Russian government to deposit earnings from the sale of U.S. grain to Russia, the newspaper said. Under that agreement, the United States both donates grain and provides long-term loans for the Russian government to purchase grain, corn and other products. The products would then be sold in Russia at market prices to local residents. The earnings were to have been deposited into a special account. Investigators now believe that the earnings have been illegally diverted to an offshore bank, possibly by current or former members of the Russian government, USA Today reported. The United States negotiated a deal late last year to provide nearly $1 billion in food aid to Russia after the country harvested a sparse crop and devalued the rouble, making imports of food extremely expensive. U.S. government agriculture experts are scheduled to travel to Russia in early September to estimate the country's crop, analyze the amount of grain in storage and assess food aid needs. (cont) biz.yahoo.com