WASHINGTON — One of France’s largest banks, Societe Generale, is pleading guilty in the U.S. and paying a $585 million fine for bribing Libyan officials to win government investments. The bank also is paying $750 million to settle U.S. charges of manipulating a key global interest rate.
WASHINGTON — One of France’s largest banks, Societe Generale, is pleading guilty in the U.S. and paying a $585 million fine for bribing Libyan officials to win government investments. The bank also is paying $750 million to settle U.S. charges of manipulating a key global interest rate.
The actions were announced by the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Under an agreement with the Justice Department, Societe Generale will avoid criminal prosecution on charges of manipulating the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, and will pay a $275 million fine. The bank is paying a $475 million civil penalty in a separate settlement with the CFTC.
Societe Generale will plead guilty Tuesday in federal court to violating U.S. laws against foreign bribery between 2004 and 2009.
