BNP Paribas is urging a New York federal judge to dismantle a $21 million bellwether verdict awarded to three Sudanese refugees, arguing the jury’s findings clash with Swiss law — the legal framework governing the case — and cannot hold the French bank responsible for the atrocities of Omar al-Bashir’s regime.
Bank Seeks Judgment as a Matter of Law
In a motion filed Friday in the Southern District of New York, BNP demanded judgment in its favor or, alternatively, a new trial or amended judgment. The bank insists that under Swiss Code of Obligations, it cannot be deemed an accomplice to the Sudanese government’s crimes, which include torture, rape, murder and large-scale persecution under the longtime dictator.
The three plaintiffs — part of a class that could reach 23,000 members — secured the nearly $21 million jury award in October. Their lawsuit alleges that beginning in 1997, BNP funneled $20 billion into Sudan over a decade, constructing a clandestine “shadow banking system” that empowered al-Bashir’s brutal rule.
BNP maintains it believed those transactions supported legitimate commerce benefiting Sudanese citizens and denies knowing participation in any abuses.
