The estranged husband of imprisoned American psychologist, Beverly Dwight, has a criminal record in the United States and a colorful reputation in the Moscow business community, according to information revealed Wednesday.


As Dwight, a prominent psychologist in the expatriate community, remained in a Moscow jail Wednesday and sought Russian legal help, details of her husband David Carter's past business dealings in Moscow came to light. U.S. officials are still looking for Carter, who, along with Dwight, is charged in a federal indictment accusing the pair of bilking U.S. banks out of more than $1 million.


According to John Malcolm, the assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta who drafted the 42-count indictment against the pair, Carter has a criminal record -- a conviction for assaulting a deputy U.S. marshal. Malcolm said he did not know when or where the incident occurred.


Paul Tatum, the president of Americom business centers, said he had contact with Carter in late 1991 and early 1992 when Carter had proposed investing $15 million in the Radisson-Slavjanskaya Hotel, of which Americom is a part owner.


Of the criminal charges facing Carter and Dwight in the United States, Tatum said, "I was a little skeptical about the charges that she was fully involved in the fraud, but David I can understand." Tatum said that for some time in early 1992 Dwight and Carter were living as man and wife in a suite at the Slavyanskaya.


"But she did not participate in the business and in fact tried to avoid it," Tatum added.


After failing to produce proof that he actually had $15 million to invest in the hotel, Carter was asked to leave the suite where he and Dwight had been living for free, Tatum said. The couple refused and the hotel's general manager at the time himself tried physically to evict Carter and Dwight.


While Carter eventually left Moscow for St. Petersburg, Dwight remained to build a successful life as a psychologist catering to the Western community.


In contrast to Carter's relatively low profile, Dwight had a weekly radio show, was president of the American Women's Organization and was a part-time psychologist at the Anglo-American School.


Tatum said the last he heard of Carter was six months ago when Carter approached the general manager of the Americom Business Center in St. Petersburg, offering to rent a renovated apartment for between $3,000 and $4,000 a month.


As for Dwight, she remained Wednesday in a solitary holding cell at Petrovka 38, the Moscow police headquarters, said Yelena Rumantseva, a spokeswoman for the militia's anti-organized crime unit. Rumantseva said Dwight was receiving better treatment than most prisoners.


"Taking into consideration that she is a woman and an American, she was given a second blanket," said Rumantseva, noting that militia regulations call for one blanket per prisoner.


Walter White, an American lawyer in Moscow working on Dwight's behalf, said a Russian attorney had been retained to help Dwight, but that neither he nor the Russian lawyer had been permitted to visit her. White did not rule out the possibility that Dwight could be released, especially in the absence of an extradition treaty between the United States and Russia.


"In my opinion they have no clear obligation to detain her or to turn her over to the U.S. authorities," said White.


A spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor's Office said that there was no set procedure for hearings to determine the validity of charges against someone like Dwight before shipping her home for trial.


U.S. Embassy officials were less forthcoming about Dwight's condition or the circumstances leading to her arrest.


They declined to comment Wednesday on how long the embassy had known of Dwight's fugitive status and which U.S. agency had requested that she be arrested by Russian authorities. Nor would officials comment on what sort of embassy-related employment -- such as work at the Anglo-American School -- would prompt a background check.


Malcolm, the prosecutor, said there had been a warrant for Dwight's and Carter's arrest since the November 1991 issuance of the sealed indictment by a federal grand jury in Atlanta.