Bloomberg: BNP Paribas To Plead Guilty Of Violating U.S. Sanctions

(RTTNews) - French lender BNP Paribas SA (BNP.L, BNPQY.PK) is looking to plead guilty to criminal charges of violating U.S. sanctions, According to a Bloomberg report on Friday. It is also nearing a record penalty settlement of about $9 billion with U.S. authorities to settle the allegations. However, the terms of a settlement are yet to be finalized.

Investigators in the U.S. have been seeking at least $10 billion to resolve the probe of BNP Paribas.

The settlement could be the second largest involving a European bank after Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) agreed to pay $2.6 billion in May following U.S. criminal investigation since 2011 on tax evading accusations. Earlier, a $1.9 billion settlement in 2012 with HSBC Holdings plc (HBC) was the largest to resolve similar charges of doing business with sanctioned countries.

The Paris-based bank is charged of intentionally hiding transactions amounting to about $30 billion that violated U.S. sanctions against countries including Iran, Cuba and Sudan between 2002 and 2009 or some even until 2011.

BNP Paribas is likely to plead guilty to a criminal charge of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

While reporting first-quarter results, BNP Paribas has warned of a potential penalty 'far in excess of the amount of the provision,' related to litigation regarding US dollar payments. Earlier, BNP Paribas had set aside $1.1 billion towards this payment.

According to Wall Street Journal last week, BNP Paribas would also temporarily be banned from handling transactions in U.S. dollars for a few months. As per reports, there is evidence that BNP Paribas moved funds related to companies and government agencies in Sudan through regional banks during the time when the country was the subject of sanctions over allegations of genocide.

Criminal charges against a bank could threaten its existence, and also could hurt the economies for its size and interconnectedness.

In March 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress that the size of some of these institutions became so large that it does become difficult for the authorities to prosecute them.

In Paris, BNP stock closed Friday's regular trading session at 49.41 euros, up 0.28 euro or 0.56% on a volume of 4.46 million shares.