French prosecutors drop BNP Paribas insider trading probe
PARIS (Reuters) - French prosecutors said on Wednesday they were dropping an inquiry into alleged insider trading by several executives at French bank BNP Paribas after finding no signs of wrongdoing.
Prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation in October after receiving an anonymous letter flagging alleged insider trading deals by several top executives in 2013.
At the time the bank was the target of a U.S. sanctions violations probe that eventually led to BNP Paribas getting hit with a fine of almost $9 billion (6 billion pounds).
"All of the information gathered excludes any possibility of insider trading by BNP Paribas executives in their transactions in the company's shares in 2013 and until the fine was announced in 2014," the prosecutors said in a statement.
"In the absence of any wrongdoing, the national prosecutors are not taking the case further," they added.
French satirical weekly newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported in November that three senior executives had sold nearly 300,000 shares in 2013 while the bank was under investigation in the United States.
The bank pleaded guilty in July 2014 to two criminal charges and agreed to pay the fine to resolve accusations it violated U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Cuba and Iran.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; editing by Mark John)
