French bank BNP guilty of US sanctions violations

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — France's largest bank, BNP Paribas, has agreed to pay nearly $9 billion to resolve criminal allegations that it processed transactions for clients in Sudan and other blacklisted countries in violation of U.S. trade sanctions, the Justice Department announced Monday. The bank pleaded guilty to state charges in New York and plans another guilty plea in federal court next month.

After months of negotiations, BNP admitted to violating U.S. trade sanctions by processing billions of dollars in illegal transactions on behalf of clients in Sudan, Cuba and Iran. The United States had imposed sanctions on the countries to block their participation in the global financial system.

The transactions, which prosecutors say were processed through its New York branch office from at least 2004 through 2012, were handled at the same time as human rights abuses — including the genocide in Sudan — were occurring in those nations.

"Sanctions are a key tool in protecting U.S. national security interests, but they only work if they are strictly enforced," Attorney General Eric Holder said. "If sanctions are to have teeth, violations must be strictly punished."

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140701/us--france-bank-prosecution-17688968d0.html

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BNP Paribas general counsel Georges Dirani, accompanied by attorney Karen Patton Seymour, leaves New York state Supreme Court, in New York, Monday, June 30, 2014. France{2019}s largest bank, BNP Paribas, pleaded guilty Monday and agreed to pay nearly $9 billion to resolve criminal allegations that it processed transactions for clients in Sudan and other blacklisted countries in violation of U.S. trade sanctions. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

[dipsydoodle]

1. Putin accuses US of 'blackmail' on French bank fine

BRUSSELS - Russia has accused the US of using bank fines to “blackmail” France on arms sales, amid Western division on Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin made the claim in a speech to Russian ambassadors in Moscow on Tuesday (1 July).

“We are aware of the pressure our American partners are putting on France to force it not to supply Mistrals to Russia. We even know that they hinted that if France does not deliver the Mistrals, the sanctions will be quietly lifted from their banks, or at least they will be significantly minimised,” he said.

“What is being done to the French banks can cause nothing but indignation in Europe … What is this if not blackmail?”

He noted that: “Europe is our natural and most significant trade and economic partner.”

http://euobserver.com/foreign/124843