French judges have formally charged HSBC Private Bank Suisse with organized money laundering and criminal conspiracy in connection with the alleged embezzlement of $330 million from Lebanon’s central bank by its former governor Riad Salameh, according to an investigation by Le Monde.

The charges, made May 6 and confirmed Wednesday by France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, mark the first time a major financial institution has been implicated in the French judicial proceedings targeting Salameh and his associates. The Swiss subsidiary of the British banking giant was ordered to pay €80 million in bail, the news outlet said.

Under the French legal system, preliminary charges indicate that prosecutors believe there is sufficient evidence to deepen an inquiry before an investigating magistrate, who will ultimately decide whether to bring the case to trial or dismiss it, the Financial Times separately reported.

HSBC had previously disclosed it was under investigation by French and Swiss authorities over money laundering linked to two historical client relationships, and had warned investors the impact could be significant, the FT said. Its private bank subsequently terminated relationships with more than 1,000 wealthy Middle Eastern clients, including from Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

The case centers on an alleged scheme in which commissions paid to Lebanon’s central bank, the Banque du Liban, by Lebanese commercial banks were funneled to an offshore entity called Forry Associates Ltd., registered in the British Virgin Islands. Salameh allegedly failed to disclose when the central bank signed a brokerage contract with Forry in 2002 that the company’s true owner was his brother, Raja. The alleged embezzlement ran from 2002 to 2015, according to Le Monde.

Switzerland’s attorney-general alleged that the Salameh brothers transferred more than $300 million from the central bank to an HSBC Switzerland account held in Forry’s name, with hundreds of millions subsequently funneled into Swiss accounts controlled by both men, the FT reported. French investigators allege the funds were then used to acquire real estate in France and elsewhere in Europe for Salameh and his associates, Le Monde said. 

A March summary report by an investigator from France’s anti-financial crime agency concluded that HSBC had the tools to detect and block the transactions but instead appeared to facilitate the concealment scheme. The report implicated multiple levels of the bank, from back-office staff who failed to conduct required checks on 192 flagged transfers to senior management, which investigators said bore independent responsibility for the failures, according to the news outlet.

Switzerland’s financial regulator, FINMA, began enforcement proceedings against the bank in connection with the Lebanese clients in 2021 and in 2024 found serious breaches of anti-money laundering rules linked to more than $300 million in transactions between Switzerland and Lebanon, ordering a review of high-risk client relationships. The bank has also been under Swiss criminal investigation since January 2025, with a banker who oversaw its relationship with Salameh and Forry also under investigation for aggravated money laundering, according to Le Monde.

At least 10 individuals, including Salameh, his brother, and other family members and associates, have been implicated in the French proceedings, launched in July 2021 following complaints from the anti-corruption group Sherpa and a collective of Lebanese victims, the newspaper said. Lebanon’s central bank, now a plaintiff in the case, described Forry as a “Trojan horse” for Salameh’s business dealings.

Salameh was charged by Beirut prosecutors in 2022 with embezzling more than $330 million in public funds, the FT reported. He has denied all allegations and left the Banque du Liban governorship in July 2023. France has had an international arrest warrant out for him since May 2023. As Lebanon does not extradite its nationals, HSBC represents the most prominent defendant likely to face a criminal trial in Paris should the case proceed, according to Le Monde.