Russian Scoffs at U.S. Bank Scandal : Laundering: A reputed mob leader says allegations that billions of dollars were sent through an American institution are FBI ‘delirium.’

MOSCOW —  A reputed Russian mob leader denied accusations that he was involved in the alleged laundering of billions of dollars through an American bank, according to a jocular interview with him published Saturday.

“I can only dream of such money. . . . All these accusations are the nightmarish delirium of the FBI,” Semyon Mogilevich told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. “If I could earn--not steal--a third of that money, my life would be a success.”

Mogilevich has long denied any involvement with organized crime, though he has been linked to a company called Benex, which had accounts at the Bank of New York that raised the suspicion of U.S. investigators.

Moskovsky Komsomolets did not say where Mogilevich was when he gave the interview published Saturday, though he is believed to be based in Budapest, Hungary.

No one has been charged with wrongdoing in the alleged laundering of between $4.2 billion and $10 billion by the Russian mob through the Bank of New York. The case is potentially the biggest money-laundering affair ever uncovered in the United States.

On Friday, the Bank of New York fired a London-based executive, Lucy Edwards, who had been in charge of its Eastern European operations. The bank would not elaborate on Edwards’ dismissal, but Dow Jones Newswires reported that the institution suspected her of misconduct and falsifying records.

Another Russian-born Bank of New York executive, Natasha Gurfinkel Kagalovsky, has been suspended. Her husband, Russian businessman Konstantin Kagalovsky, has also been implicated.

In an interview on Russian television Saturday, Konstantin Kagalovsky again denied he and his wife were involved in such a scheme. He said the scandal was being blown out of proportion by U.S. politicians battling about aid to Russia, which is expected to be an issue in next year’s U.S. presidential elections.

“My wife is accused because she’s married to me, a Russian businessman,” and the West always associates Russian businessmen with organized crime, he said from his home outside Moscow.

In response to a U.S. investigation into the bank, Russia’s Federal Securities Commission said Friday it would audit 33 Russian companies that have dealings with the Bank of New York.

The companies include oil giants Lukoil and Sibneft, Russia’s largest auto maker Avtovaz and several other major firms, the Interfax news agency reported.

Another powerful Russian businessman implicated in the scandal, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is the chairman of the Yukos oil company and once led Menatep, a bank that collapsed after last August’s economic crisis in Russia.