France’s largest bank, BNP Paribas, says it will appeal a U.S. federal court ruling that found it liable for helping Sudan’s former regime commit genocide under Omar al-Bashir’s rule. A New York jury last week ordered the bank to pay nearly $21 million in damages to three Sudanese plaintiffs, who accused the lender of enabling the Sudanese government to finance atrocities in Darfur by granting it access to global financial markets in the 1990s and 2000s, despite international sanctions.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers described the decision as a “historic milestone” in holding global banks accountable for complicity in human rights abuses. “This verdict sets a precedent for financial institutions that facilitate regimes accused of crimes against humanity,” law firm Hausfeld LLP said in a statement. BNP Paribas which in 2014 paid a record $8.9 billion fine to the U.S. for violating sanctions on Sudan, Iran, and Cuba rejected the latest verdict as “legally unfounded” and vowed to use “all recourses available” to overturn it. “The decision applies only to these three plaintiffs and should not be generalized or linked to potential settlements,” the bank said Monday, adding that it continues to dispute the factual and legal basis of the claims.
The ruling triggered a 10% drop in BNP’s shares on Monday, with investors concerned that it could open the door to further litigation. Lawyers for the victims say the verdict may pave the way for over 20,000 Sudanese refugees in the U.S. to pursue billions in damages. The Darfur conflict, which erupted in 2003, resulted in the deaths of more than 200,000 civilians and displaced 2 million people. The U.S. government recognized it as genocide in 2004, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Bashir in 2009 for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years, was ousted in 2019 after mass protests. He remains detained in Khartoum, wanted by the ICC.
