SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters - BNP Paribas to face revived lawsuit over Sudanese genocide- U.S. appeals court

22/5/19: Reuters – BNP Paribas to face revived lawsuit over Sudanese genocide- U.S. appeals court, by Jonathan Stempel

 Reuters reports that a US appeals court revived a lawsuit against BNP Paribas SA by alleged victims of a genocidal regime in Sudan, who sought to hold the French bank liable for aiding in the government’s atrocities.

 The 3-0 decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan came nearly five years after BNP Paribas agreed to plead guilty and pay an $8.97 billion penalty to settle U.S. charges it transferred billions of dollars for Sudanese, Iranian and Cuban entities subject to economic sanctions.

Twenty-one refugees now living in the United States filed the proposed class action against BNP Paribas in 2016, over its role as the Sudan regime’s main bank from 1997 to 2007.

They said BNP Paribas’ processing of thousands of illegal transactions through its New York offices furthered the regime’s campaign of murder, mass rape, torture and deliberate HIV infection against its own people.