Top U.S. Department of Justice lawyers on June 30 warned corporations to fully and timely cooperate with the government — or face consequences. Last week’s example: the French bank BNP Paribas S.A., which has agreed to plead guilty and pay nearly $9 billion over transactions with countries subject to U.S. sanctions such as Cuba, Iran and Sudan, DOJ lawyers said. BNP, the government said, decided “to act as a defacto central bank for the government of Sudan,” processing payments for U.S.-sanctioned entities.
The bank’s plea hearing is scheduled for July 9 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The penalty, if approved, would mark one of the largest ever imposed on a bank in an economic sanctions case. The bank’s lawyers include Sullivan & Cromwell partner Karen Patton Seymour, co-managing partner of the firm’s litigation group.
