MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow Arbitration Court has postponed hearings on Russian customs authorities' $22.5 billion lawsuit against the Bank of New York by two weeks until February 6.

The Federal Customs Service on May 17 accused the bank of organizing an illegal scheme to launder funds received from goods exported to Russia in 1996-99, and filed a damages lawsuit.

According to Steven Marx, a U.S. lawyer acting for the Russian customs service, under U.S. law the plaintiff can demand compensation of up to thee times the laundered sum. He said the bank's management has acknowledged involvement in the laundering of around $7.5 billion.

In the early 2000's several countries accused employees at the Bank of New York of involvement in organizing tax evasion and money laundering schemes, primarily with the use of the shadow economy. The bank fired several staff responsible for Russian money transfers.

The main case in Russia related to the bank's management of U.S. correspondent accounts at Incombank, formerly Russia's second-largest bank, which was declared bankrupt in the late 1990s.