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“BNP Paribas went to elaborate lengths to conceal prohibited transactions, cover its tracks and deceive U.S. authorities,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said. “If sanctions are to have teeth, violations must be punished.”

Fallout from the probe, and negotiations over its settlement with state and federal prosecutors, has reached the highest levels of the French and American governments. Overtures this year by numerous French officials, including President Francois Hollande, weren’t enough to persuade U.S. officials to take a more lenient approach with the Paris-based bank.

BNP becomes the second major European bank in the past two months to plead guilty in the U.S. Credit Suisse AG did so on May 19, when it agreed to pay US$2.6 billion, the largest penalty in an offshore tax case, after using secret Swiss accounts to help Americans hide money from the Internal Revenue Service.

The bank was also charged by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in New York with falsifying business records and conspiracy.

BNP Probe

The BNP investigation centered on its commodity-trade finance business in Paris and Geneva. About 30 executives who worked there have resigned, gone on leave, been fired or relocated since 2012, people familiar with the matter have said.

The majority of the illegal payments were made on behalf of sanctioned entities in Sudan, which came under a U.S. trade embargo for aiding terrorists and human rights abuses, the Justice Department said. BNP processed about US$6.4 billion through the U.S. between July 2006 and June 2007 on behalf of Sudanese entities, according to the statement.