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BNP Faces New Front in $188 Million ‘Fat-Finger’ Suit by Trader

  • Trader sues in Paris to prevent lapse of German claim
  • Armin S. is trying to capitalize on European litigation rules
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Photographer: Kosuke Okahara/Bloomberg

Updated on

A trader who wants BNP Paribas SA to pay him 163 million euros ($188 million) over a “fat-finger” mistake is betting that Paris judges will help him avoid having to give up most of the claim.

The German trader, who can only be identified as Armin S., originally sued BNP in Frankfurt but in September limited his claim to 6 million euros to avoid the risk of paying costly legal fees. Shortly before the end of the year, he came up with a new strategy to keep the full claim alive: he sued BNP in Paris, seeking 152 million euros.