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A Los Angeles lawyer seeking to collect a libel judgement against the Soviet Union and the newspaper Izvestia asked for a contempt order against the Bank of America for refusing to turn over $456,413 in Soviet funds. Attorney Gerald Kroll, representing Palo Alto businessman Raphael Gregorian, said that the bank, which received an order directing it to release the funds last week, is now refusing to turn any of the money over. Gregorian, called a U.S. spy by Izvestia, won the judgment in June by default when the Soviet Union declined to contest the libel suit. Kroll recently seized a typewriter belonging to an Izvestia correspondent in Washington, but has been unable to attach any other Soviet assets in the United States. Lawyers representing the Soviet Union have moved to have the case reopened and the judgement reversed. U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon, who granted the award, is considering the request.

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