France Announces First-Ever Deferred Prosecution Agreement
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Key takeaways
- On November 14, 2017, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s office announced the first ever French-style DPA. HSBC Private Bank Swiss agreed to pay €300 million to settle criminal charges relating to laundering the proceeds of tax fraud, with neither an admission of guilt nor a conviction.
- The French National Financial Prosecutor subsequently said that his office intends to use similar DPAs to resolve other cases involving corruption.
- Because the French-style DPA works differently than its U.S. and U.K. counterparts, companies contemplating such a resolution should conduct a France-specific strategic analysis.