French authorities have raided the Paris offices of five banks suspected of tax fraud as part of a widening European investigation of a scheme that allowed investors to avoid paying billions of euros in tax.
Some 150 investigators from the financial prosecution office conducted searches of Société Générale, BNP Paribas and its Exane unit, HSBC and the investment bank arm of the BPCE banking group, in central Paris and the La Défense financial district on the outskirts of the French capital.
