French Bank Found Complicit in Genocide

By Staff, Agencies

A US federal jury in Manhattan has found French banking giant BNP Paribas liable for aiding genocide in Sudan, ruling that the bank’s operations bolstered the government during a conflict that killed thousands and displaced millions.

The civil case, filed in 2016 on behalf of Sudanese refugees living in the United States, centered on BNP Paribas processing transactions in violation of US sanctions between 2002 and 2008.

Plaintiffs presented evidence that the bank moved billions through the US financial system for Sudanese state entities, enabling the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir to preserve oil revenues and import supplies while security forces and allied militias waged a campaign of mass violence in Darfur.

Beginning in 2003, Sudanese government forces and Janjaweed militias targeted non-Arab communities, resulting in over 300,000 deaths and approximately 2.5 million displaced, according to UN estimates.

The court ordered BNP Paribas to pay $20.45 million in damages to three Sudanese-born plaintiffs.

Bobby DiCello, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called the verdict “a victory for justice and accountability” and said, “Our clients lost everything to a campaign of destruction fueled by US dollars, that BNP Paribas facilitated and that should have been stopped.”

A BNP Paribas spokesperson rejected the ruling, arguing that Sudan had alternative funding sources and that the bank’s actions did not directly enable abuses.

“This result is clearly wrong, and there are very strong grounds to appeal the verdict,” the spokesperson said.

BNP Paribas previously pleaded guilty in the US in 2014 to criminal charges for processing transactions for Sudan, Iran, and Cuba, paying approximately $8.97 billion in penalties.

The verdict comes amid ongoing conflict between Sudan’s Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which have been engaged in a civil war since April 2023.