Forum: Banks Behind Bars: Convicting BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse

• published: 26 Feb 2015
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If 2013 was the year of “too big to jail,” 2014 was the year for convicting financial institutions. In May, federal prosecutors sent a signal that no bank is too big to escape criminal sanctions, when they pressured Credit Suisse’s parent company to plead guilty to conspiracy to aid and assist US taxpayers file false tax returns; the bank paid $2.6 billion, the highest amount ever in a criminal tax case. Later in the summer, BNP Paribas agreed to pay $8.9 billion for illegally processing financial transactions for countries subject to US economic sanctions. The move came after BNP separately pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy and filing false business records in New York state court. These convictions were made possible, in part, by coordinated enforcement between the US Attorney’s office, New York Attorney General and New York Department of Financial Services. Join us for an in-depth discussion of how these convictions came about and what they portend for the future. The panelists include four people who were on the front lines, both for the prosecution and the defense. Co-hosted by the Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement PANELISTS: Daniel Alter, Former General Counsel, New York State Department of Financial Services George Canellos, Partner, Milbank Tweed, Hadley & McCloy Andrew Goldstein, Assistant US Attorney, US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York Andrew Hruska, Partner, King & Spalding MODERATOR: Jennifer Arlen ’86, Norma Z. Paige Professor of Law; Founder and Co-Director of the Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, NYU School of Law This event took place on February 25, 2015.