The bank's officers ignored repeated warnings about suspicious transfers from federal regulators, according to sentencing documents.

In August, Mr. Kozlov had informed an Austrian bank of suspicious transfers from a bank in Russia, according to Mr. Hersztera.

The arrests are the latest in a series of crackdowns on the suspicious transfers of money to people or countries that support terrorism.

Several suspicious transfers during that period have led Strasbourg's prosecutor to indict Proisy and Le Roy of misuse of company assets and forgery in 2006.

Certainly bank managers, and banks in general, were required to report suspicious transfers of any value, and all transfers above a certain threshold, to the government.

Geneva authorities began an inquiry into suspect Russian money in Swiss accounts last year, and some banks reported suspicious transfers from the Bank of New York.

A Government official who has read the 700-page House report, which is still highly classified, said the panel found evidence of other thefts, or suspicious transfers, of sensitive military technology, dating back two decades.

Recently some banks have also begun proactively cooperating with their national financial intelligence units by requesting consent on suspicious transfers.

The Treasury Department also wants financial institutions to develop a profile of what constitutes suspicious transfers.

But, Federal investigators said, the prosecutor never closely examined the bank's role in the affair and did not obtain crucial bank records that disclosed billions of dollars in suspicious transfers from Russia.