BNP Paribas must pay three Sudanese refugees $20.5 million after a US jury found France’s largest bank helped Sudan’s former government commit genocide by providing its leaders with banking services.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, who are now American citizens, said the verdict opens the door for more than 20,000 refugees in the US to seek billions of dollars in damages from the bank, Reuters reported.
The case relates to the regime of deposed leader Omar al-Bashir, who led Sudan for three decades before he was ousted and detained in April 2019. BNP Paribas said the verdict should be overturned on appeal.
Shares in the bank, which operated in Sudan from the late 1990s until 2009, fell by more than 10% on Monday.