NEW YORK, June 30, 2020 — Kathryn Lee Boyd, a founding partner at Hecht Partners LLP, and Brent W. Landau, Global Managing Partner of Hausfeld, have been named as co-lead interim class counsel in Kashef et al. v. BNP Paribas S.A. — a litigation against BNP Paribas SA by victims of a genocidal regime in Sudan, who seek to hold the French bank liable for aiding the government’s atrocities. The Hon. Alison J. Nathan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York made the appointment on June 25.
“I am honored to have been selected, along with Brent Landau, by the Court to serve the class in this important lawsuit on behalf of Sudanese-American victims,” said Ms. Boyd, a litigator and trial lawyer who has more than 25 years of experience in this field.
Previously, Ms. Boyd has represented clients in a variety of different high-profile disputes, including in more than 30 trials and arbitrations ranging from cases involving the restitution of cultural property from the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust and flight hijacking victims.
“Our firm is honored to help Sudanese victims of atrocities seek a just resolution of their claims against BNP Paribas,” said Mr. Landau, who has substantial experience litigating class actions, including representation of victims of an air cargo price-fixing cartel where settlements exceeded $1.2 billion. Hausfeld lawyers have represented victims of human rights abuses in the United States and around the world, including victims of South African apartheid, the Tulsa Race Riots, and the Holocaust.
BNP Paribas S.A. is the world’s eighth largest bank, and currently operates with a presence in 72 countries. In the United States, it operates as Bank of the West.
The lawsuit against BNP Paribas SA was filed by Boyd in 2016 on behalf of twenty-one Sudanese victims and a putative class of more than 10,000 refugees who fled to the United States. BNP Paribas served as the genocidal Sudan regime’s de facto central bank from 1997 to 2007, and admitted to conspiring with the regime to circumvent U.S. economic sanctions designed to prevent state-sponsored human rights abuses and terrorism. BNP Paribas fraudulently concealed billions of dollars in prohibited transactions, financing the regime at the height of the Darfur Genocide that killed more than 480,000 and displaced more than 2.8 million people.
In 2015, BNP Paribas pleaded guilty to criminal violations of the U.S. embargo against Sudan and agreed to pay an $8.97 billion penalty to settle U.S. charges it transferred billions of dollars for sanctioned Sudanese, Iranian and Cuban entities. This class action litigation seeks compensation for the victims of atrocities funded by this sanctions-evasion scheme.
About Hecht Partners:
Hecht Partners LLP is a boutique law firm specializing in intellectual property rights, class actions, and transnational arbitration and litigation. Our clients include some of the most innovative and emerging companies and individuals in the entertainment, digital media, and tech industries. We pride ourselves on our entrepreneurial spirit and lean, efficient operations based in next-generation technologies that have yet to be adopted by the vast majority of the legal industry. With offices in New York and Los Angeles, our attorneys are also licensed in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.
About Hausfeld:
Hausfeld is a leading global law firm with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Düsseldorf, London, Stockholm, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The firm has a broad range of complex litigation expertise, particularly in antitrust/competition, financial services, sports and entertainment, environmental, mass torts, consumer protection, and human rights matters, often with an international dimension. Hausfeld aims to achieve the best possible results for clients through its practical and commercial approach, avoiding litigation where feasible, yet litigating robustly when necessary. Hausfeld’s extensive experience with alternative and innovative fee models offers clients a diverse menu of engagement options and maximum flexibility in terms of managing their cost exposure. Hausfeld is the only claimants’ firm to be ranked by The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a top tier firm in private enforcement of antitrust/competition law in both the United States and Europe. For more information about the firm, including recent trial victories and landmark settlements, please visit www.hausfeld.com.
