Russia says Bank of New York Mellon undermined economy, seeks damages

The appearance of a team of pastel-clad trial lawyers from Miami, representing Russia, capped a long effort to enforce civil liabilities here against the bank, which reached a settlement with the United States government in the case in 2005.

As Russia’s economy collapsed in the late 1990s, capital flight was one of the contributing causes. And at that time, about $7.5 billion was improperly transferred out of the country through Bank of New York accounts to a shell company owned by the husband of a bank employee, Lucy Edwards.

Both Edwards and her husband were later sentenced to five years of probation, and the bank, which admitted lax oversight, agreed to pay $14 million to the United States.

In a novel legal theory on choice of law, the lawyers — working on a contingency fee for the Russian Customs Committee — are seeking to apply the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act, known as RICO, against the bank in a Russian court.The bank argues that the statute of limitations for new legal suits against it has expired.

The case, being heard at Basmany Court in Moscow, has attracted the attention of prominent legal experts. Alan M. Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor, prepared an affidavit in support of the Russian plaintiffs, and a former United States attorney general, Dick Thornburgh, prepared one on behalf of the bank.

On Thursday, the court heard testimony from experts on whether it had jurisdiction to decide American criminal law, and whether the RICO statute could be applied outside of the United States.