BNP Paribas probed over $100B money-laundering scheme

By Kevin Dugan

June 4, 2014 | 5:35pm

Photo: Reuters

BNP Paribas is facing allegations that it served as a major conduit for moving laundered money out of terror state Sudan over seven years, helping the rogue nation move billions of dollars to safety, The Post has learned.

A US probe found that the giant French bank altered transfers and hid records to launder more than $100 billion — much of it from Sudan between 2002 and 2009, according to people familiar with the matter.

The extent of the allegations has led federal and state officials to push for the dismissal of more than a dozen bank executives in addition to a potential $10 billion fine, one person said.

Authorities are also seeking an admission of guilt from BNP and the temporary suspension of the bank’s ability to process US dollar transactions.
The details of the probe are coming into focus amid a French outcry over the sanctions facing the country’s largest bank. France’s Francois Hollande is expected to raise the BNP matter with President Obama when the president visits France to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day this week.

Investigators led by the Department of Justice are in settlement talks with BNP over allegations that it laundered money for clients in blacklisted nations including Sudan, Iran and Cuba.

Sudan was deemed a terrorist regime years long before the 9/11 attacks. Osama bin Laden moved al-Qaeda to the North African country after he was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991.

BNP isn’t the first big bank to be ensnared in the US crackdown on money laundering. HSBC was fined $1.9 billion for turning a blind eye to funds from Mexican drug cartels.

But US officials allege that BNP actively worked to avoid rousing the suspicions of anti-terrorism authorities, said one person.

Prosecutors haven’t been able to draw direct ties between the laundered funds and terrorism groups because the bank scrubbed the information, the person added.

The accusations against BNP precede the bank’s current chief executive officer, Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, who has held his position since 2011.

Still, a $10 billion fine could force BNP to raise capital and spark calls for Bonnafe’s ouster, Morningstar bank analyst Erin Davis told The Post.

Some of the individuals who have been singled out in the probe no longer work for the bank. Others still at the bank are based in the US, one person said.

Prosecutors are negotiating with BNP over the length of the suspension on dollar clearing and whether to allow a phase-in period, the person said.

The bank’s settlement negotiations with the Justice Department, Benjamin Lawsky’s New York State Department of Financial Services and other federal and state authorities are expected to come to a close within weeks.

BNP spokeswoman Cesaltine Gregorio declined to comment.

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