The US Department of Justice is seeking penalty of over $3.5 billion from French banking giant BNP Paribas for carrying out transactions related to the sanctioned countries through its US subsidiary.
The reported penalty accounts to more than half of the bank’s 2013 net income of Ä4.8 billion and is claimed to be the largest ever charged by US DoJ, reported The Financial Times.
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The US authorities are also keen to levy charges of not cooperating during the probe, in addition to processing transactions of several billion dollars illegally, even after it was warned.
The firm’s senior executives had a meeting with US regulators and prosecutors seeking lenience amidst settlement negotiation talks.
BNP Paribas chief executive Jean-Laurent BonnafÈ has intended to coax US authorities that it should be a subsidiary rather than the holding company.
Although, the US prosecutors are hopeful of federal and state regulators not cancelling BNP’s banking license, the consequences of the bank pleading guilty is difficult to know.
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By GlobalDataHowever, the authorities are not keen to offer any lenience with US attorney-general Eric Holder released a video stating that no bank is too big to jail, after France Finance Minister tried to persuade him.
Besides BNP, the US regulators are also negotiating a deal with Swiss bank Credit Suisse accused of helping US tax dodgers. DoJ is seeking over $1bn in fines along with a guilty plea.
