BNP Paribas SA will pay a fine of $140 million and face a
five-year probation for violating U.S. sanctions, putting its total
financial penalty in the high-profile cast at nearly $9
billion.
Paris-based BNP agreed last year to plead guilty and forfeit the
$8.83 billion it moved through the U.S. financial system on behalf
of sanctioned Sudanese, Iranian and Cuban entities.
This is the first time a financial institution has been
sentenced based on violating U.S. economic sanctions and the
penalty is the largest ever imposed in a criminal case.
Of the more than $8 billion moved through the system, more than
$4.3 billion involved specifically designated as cut off from the
financial system. The violations happened from about 2004 through
2012.
The bank set up an intricate web of "satellite banks" designed
to disguise its role in illicit transactions, according to the
government complaint. For instance, a Sudanese bank seeking to move
U.S. dollars out of Sudan transferred funds internally within a BNP
satellite bank, which then transferred the money to the Sudanese
bank's "intended beneficiary" without reference to the Sudanese
bank.
At the time, BNP cut ties with 13 employees. No employees face
criminal charges, though 45 employees were disciplined in some
fashion, ranging from termination to warnings, according to court
documents filed in connection with the settlement.
"BNP deliberately disregarded the law and provided rogue
nations, and Sudan in particular, with vital access to the global
financial system, helping that country's lawless government to
harbor and support terrorists and to persecute its own people,"
said assistant attorney general Leslie R. Caldwell.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@dowjones.com
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