“The verdict is specific to these three plaintiffs, and we strongly believe it should not have broader application beyond this decision,” a spokesperson said. “We believe this verdict should be overturned on appeal.”
Defense counsel Dani James of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP told the jury during trial that BNP Paribas never intended to fund or enable violence, insisting there was a “world of difference between facilitating transactions and contributing to atrocities.”
“The bank is not responsible for causing violence,” James said. “It did not write a check to the al-Bashir regime.”
The Alleged “Shadow Banking System”
According to the plaintiffs, BNP Paribas funneled roughly $20 billion through Sudanese financial networks between 1997 and 2007, even as U.S. sanctions explicitly barred such activity. The plaintiffs argued this financial lifeline allowed al-Bashir’s government to sustain its military campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab communities in Darfur.
The refugees — now living in the United States — described horrific abuses, including beatings, sexual violence, forced displacement, and the destruction of their villages, all tied to a regime allegedly propped up by access to Western finance.