According to court documents submitted today, BNP Paribas S.A. (BNPP), a global financial institution headquartered in Paris, agreed to enter a guilty plea to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) by processing billions of dollars of transactions through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Sudanese, Iranian, and Cuban entities subject to U.S. economic sanctions. The agreement by the French bank to plead guilty is the first time a global bank has agreed to plead guilty to large-scale, systematic violations of U.S. economic sanctions.
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Means and Methods of the Conspiracy
Among the means and methods by which BNPP, the defendant, and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy were the following:
- BNPP intentionally used a non-transparent method of payment messages, known as cover payments, to conceal the involvement of banks and other entities located in or controlled by countries subject to U.S. sanctions, including Sudan, Iran and Cuba (“Sanctioned Entities”), in U.S. dollar transactions processed through BNPP’s branch office in the United States headquartered in New York, New York (“BNPP New York”) and other financial institutions in the United States.
- BNPP worked with other financial institutions to structure payments in highly complicated ways, with no legitimate business purpose, to conceal the involvement of Sanctioned Entities in order to prevent the illicit transactions from being blocked when transmitted through the United States.
- BNPP instructed other financial institutions not to mention the names of Sanctioned Entities in U. S. dollar payment messages sent to BNPP New York and other financial institutions in the United States.
- BNPP followed instructions from Sanctioned Entities not to mention their names in U.S. dollar payment messages sent to BNPP New York and other financial institutions in the United States.
- BNPP removed information identifying Sanctioned Entities from U.S. dollar payment messages in order to conceal the involvement of Sanctioned Entities from BNPP New York and other financial institutions in the United States.
Overt Acts
In furtherance of the conspiracy and to effect its illegal objects, BNPP, the defendant, and others known and unknown, committed the following overt acts, among others, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere:
- In or about December 2006, BNPP, through its subsidiary based in Geneva, Switzerland, caused an unaffiliated U. S. financial institution located in New York, New York (“U.S. Bank 1”) to process an approximately $10 million U. S. dollar transaction involving a Sanctioned Entity in Sudan by concealing from U. S. Bank 1 the involvement of the Sanctioned Entity.
- In or about November 2012, BNPP, through its headquarters in Paris, France (“BNPP Paris”), processed an approximately $6.5 million U.S. dollar transaction on behalf of a corporation controlled by an Iranian entity through BNPP New York.
- On or about November 24, 2009, BNPP Paris processed an approximately $213, 027 U.S. dollar transaction through BNPP New York in connection with a U. S. dollar denominated credit facility that provided financing to various Sanctioned Entities in Cuba.
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Link to USDOJ press release: click here
Link to all relevant documents : click here