Verdict

A New York jury found French bank BNP Paribas liable for more than $20M in damages over its role in providing banking services to Sudan’s government during a period of mass atrocities.

Context

Between 2002 and 2008, Sudan's government under former President Omar al-Bashir carried out widespread violence against its population, particularly non-Arabs in the Darfur region. As many as 300,000 people were killed and 2.7M were driven from their homes during this period. The US government recognized the conflict as genocide in 2004, and the UN Security Council referred the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2005. The ICC later issued arrest warrants for al-Bashir, making him the first sitting president to be wanted by the court and the first person charged by the ICC with genocide.

Verdict

Last Friday, a federal jury in Manhattan found that BNP Paribas, France's largest bank, was liable for damages to three Sudanese refugees who now live in the US.