• A New York jury found BNP Paribas liable for facilitating atrocities in Sudan.
• The ruling awarded $20.5 million to three Sudanese plaintiffs for suffering under the regime of Omar al-Bashir.
• BNP Paribas plans to appeal, claiming the verdict is “clearly wrong” and based on a distortion of the law.
• This case raises implications for over 20,000 Sudanese refugees in the U.S. seeking damages.

A New York jury has determined that BNP Paribas, the French banking giant, was complicit in atrocities committed under the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir in Sudan. The verdict awarded $20.5 million to three Sudanese plaintiffs who presented harrowing testimonies about the human rights violations they endured, including torture and sexual assault. Their lawyer, Bobby DiCello, described the ruling as a pivotal moment for justice and accountability in financial institutions, stating, "Our clients lost everything to a campaign of destruction fueled by U.S. dollars, that BNP Paribas facilitated and that should have been stopped," according to Le Monde, Al Jazeera, and Reuters.

The federal jury's verdict followed a five-week trial led by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who previously denied BNP Paribas' attempts to dismiss the case. Testimonies highlighted the bank's provision of financing services to Sudan that contributed to the regime's capacity for human rights abuses. Plaintiffs argued that these banking operations enabled the Sudanese government to maintain a flow of revenue from exports like oil and cotton, effectively "supporting the ethnic cleansing" in Sudan, as noted in closing remarks by DiCello, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.

In response to the verdict, BNP Paribas expressed plans to appeal, claiming it represents a misinterpretation of legal standards and insisting that the bank's operations were lawful under European regulations at the time. The bank argued there was no direct link between its services and the atrocities committed by Sudanese forces, stating that the plaintiffs' suffering would have occurred irrespective of BNP Paribas' involvement, a position supported by defense attorney Barry Berke, according to Le Monde, Al Jazeera, and Reuters.

This landmark ruling could set a precedent, potentially enabling more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees residing in the U.S. to pursue further legal action against BNP Paribas for damages associated with the Sudanese government's actions between 2002 and 2008, a period during which the U.N. estimates around 300,000 lives were lost in the conflict, as cited by Al Jazeera and Reuters.