EX-BANKER DENIES DRUG ROLE

Former Lehman Brothers Worker Pleads Not Guilty To Laundering Money For
Violent Mexican Cartel

NEW YORK -- A former banker pleaded not guilty Friday to charges she
laundered millions of dollars in drug profits for a powerful and violent
Mexican gang.

Consuelo Marquez, 39, formerly of Lehman Brothers, was released on $500,000
bond at arraignment in federal court in Manhattan.

Marquez's attorney, Robert Morvillo, told U.S. Magistrate Debra Freeman his
client "is prepared to contest the charge."

The lawyer said the government's attempt to link Marquez to the Alcides
Ramon Magana narcotics gang was "fanciful."

An indictment alleges Marquez used her position with Lehman Brothers and
another company, Serfin Securities, to help the former governor of a
Mexican state, Mario Villanueva Madrid, and others establish offshore
corporations to hide their involvement in laundering drug profits.

She also allegedly helped liquidate Villanueva's Lehman Brothers brokerage
accounts and hide his dealings from investigators.

Prosecutors say the drug cartel set up in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo
in 1994 and began shipping hundreds of tons of cocaine from Colombia
through that state to the United States.

The cartel paid off politicians in the area, including as much as $500,000
in cash for each load of cocaine to Villanueva, the indictment said. In
return, it said, Villanueva and his associates provided state and federal
police and other resources to transport, store and protect the cocaine
shipments.

Marquez faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of money laundering and
wire fraud.