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WASHINGTON (AP) — France's largest bank, BNP Paribas, has agreed to pay nearly $9 billion to resolve criminal allegations that it processed transactions for clients in Sudan and other blacklisted countries in violation of U.S. trade sanctions, the Justice Department announced Monday. The bank pleaded guilty to state charges in New York and plans another guilty plea in federal court next month.

After months of negotiations, BNP admitted to violating U.S. trade sanctions by processing billions of dollars in illegal transactions on behalf of clients in Sudan, Cuba and Iran. The United States had imposed sanctions on the countries to block their participation in the global financial system.

The transactions, which prosecutors say were processed through its New York branch office from at least 2004 through 2012, were handled at the same time as human rights abuses — including the genocide in Sudan — were occurring in those nations.

"Sanctions are a key tool in protecting U.S. national security interests, but they only work if they are strictly enforced," Attorney General Eric Holder said. "If sanctions are to have teeth, violations must be strictly punished."

The goal of such sanctions is to cut off an enemy nation's access to banks and other sources of capital, limiting its economic growth and ability to buy weapons, food and other items available through global trade. The restrictions on dealings with sanctioned countries generally apply to U.S. banks and foreign banks with U.S. operations.

The roughly $8.9 billion deal is the largest sanctions case brought by the Justice Department and the largest penalty in any criminal case involving a bank. Prosecutors say the penalty was necessary not only because of the sheer volume of the illicit transactions but also because of the bank's efforts to hide them and executives' lack of cooperation with the Justice Department.

As the BNP deal inched closer, French officials in recent weeks had expressed deep concern about the punishment. They lobbied for White House intervention and warned that a large penalty could affect the entire European economy and hold up a trans-Atlantic free trade agreement.

The French economy minister last week asked the Justice Department to be "fair and proportionate" in deciding on the potential penalty. President Francois Hollande wrote to the Obama administration in April asking for a "reasonable" solution, though President Barack Obama deflected calls to get involved in the dispute.

Paris-based BNP on Monday entered a guilty plea in state court in New York City to falsifying business records. The bank is expected to plead guilty in federal court on July 9 for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading With the Enemy Act.

It has also agreed to fire multiple senior executives and will lose for one year its ability to process certain transactions in U.S. dollars. No individual BNP executives were charged.

"We deeply regret the past misconduct that led to this settlement," Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, CEO of BNP, said in a statement. "The failures that have come to light in the course of this investigation run contrary to the principles on which BNP Paribas has always sought to operate."

The bank said in addition to provisions it has already taken, it will book a charge of 5.8 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in the second quarter.

"It is not hyperbole to say that the most important values in the international community — respect for human rights, peaceful coexistence, and a world free of terrorism — depend in large part on the effectiveness of these sanctions," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who said the investigation started with a tip to his office.

U.S. authorities in recent years have pursued other multiple big foreign banks for sanctions violations, though those matters have been resolved for smaller dollar figures.

HSBC, Europe's largest bank, agreed to a $1.9 billion settlement with U.S. and New York authorities in connection with the transfer of billions of dollars on behalf of Iran, Cuba, Libya, Sudan and Myanmar.

Standard Chartered paid $340 million in a settlement with New York state regulators, who accused the bank of scheming with the Iranian government to launder billions of dollars. The bank also paid $327 million to settle U.S. and New York charges related to currency transactions for Iranian, Sudanese, Libyan and Burmese entities that were said to be concealed from regulators.

Meanwhile, in two separate similar investigations in France, authorities are also looking at Credit Agricole and Societe Generale, people involved in the probe have said. Together with BNP Paribas, they constitute France's top three banks.

The BNP announcement comes weeks after Credit Suisse struck a $2.6 billion plea deal with the Justice Department for helping wealthy Americans avoid taxes. Shortly before that case was brought, Holder — whose Justice Department has been accused of not being aggressive enough in confronting bank misconduct — issued a video message declaring that no bank was too large to prosecute.

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Associated Press writers Marcy Gordon in Washington and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Police on Monday asked the public for its help in identifying two shooters and a third "person of interest" who appear in separate surveillance videos recorded the night of a weekend gunfight that injured 10 people on Bourbon Street.

Police said the victims were hit when shots rang out about 2:45 a.m. Sunday on the street, a historic thoroughfare of nightspots that is a major destination for visitors in tourist-loving New Orleans. Five remained hospitalized at LSU Hospital, one of them in critical condition.

Police initially said nine people were hit. On Monday, they added a 10th victim, a man who had gone to a station in a neighboring district about 12 hours after the shootings to report that he had been shot. He had a minor chest wound and refused treatment, authorities said in a news release.

Authorities have not made victims' identities and hometowns public but police said some were not from New Orleans. There were six women and four men shot, ranging in age from 17 to 39, police said.

Images captured from a surveillance camera above a bar showed people running down the street in the chaos of the shooting. Police placed several views of the shootout online asking for the public's help in identifying the two shooters.

"I heard a boom, boom, boom, boom, boom," witness David Minsky, a New Orleans resident, said Monday. "I knew they were gunshots, but they were loud. I ran out and saw everybody running toward me. I saw two men whip right past me. Right behind those guys was a New Orleans cop, hot on their tail."

Minsky said he had just gotten off work as a bartender at another business and was sitting in a Bourbon Street bar when he heard the shots. He described a bloody scene outside. He said he took off his shirt and used it to try to control the bleeding of a woman who appeared to have been shot in the face.

The violence happened as New Orleans prepares for a major summer tourist event: The annual Essence Festival opens Thursday and runs through the Fourth of July weekend.

"This Essence Festival, we're using an overtime package of about $300,000 to make sure there's more police officers here in the French Quarter area," police chief Ronal Serpas said Sunday. "There will be plenty of police officers visible during Essence and July Fourth."

What sparked the shooting remained unclear. "What happened was two young men got angry at each other and shot at each other," Serpas said.

Louisiana State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson said he and Serpas discussed the shooting Monday. He said they are looking into ways to redeploy state police resources already in New Orleans. He says 44 troopers work in the area daily in various capacities, including investigations related to narcotics and gambling.

The scene on Bourbon Street on Monday was business as usual, with music blaring from bars as tourists strolled, drinks in hand.

On Sunday, visitor Justin Sigalos of Chicago, stood at the scene of the shooting, looking at the blood-stained sidewalk, saying he would not let the violence keep him from visiting again.

"Just understand that things happen and you've got to do your best to avoid putting yourself in that kind of situation," he said.

It was the third major shooting on Bourbon Street in the past three years.

On the Saturday before Mardi Gras, four people were treated at a hospital after a shooting. During Halloween in 2011, one person was killed and seven others were injured after gunmen opened fire on each other.

Blaine Dorr, 70, has lived in the French Quarter since 1964 and on Bourbon Street since 1993, and while crime has always been a concern, he said he's never seen the kind of brazen violence that's taken place in his neighborhood the past few years.

"It's frustrating," Dorr said, standing outside his home about a block from where Sunday's shooting occurred. "They don't care about the consequences. They don't care about going to jail. They don't care about taking somebody's life or losing their own. They just don't care, and what do you do with that?"

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Associated Press Writer Kevin McGill contributed to this report.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oil and gas exploration company Devon Energy Corp. is selling some U.S. oil and gas properties to Linn Energy LLC for $2.3 billion.

The properties include those in the Rockies, onshore Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent region, Devon said on Monday. The sale is part of a transformation plan the company announced late last year in which it was looking to sell non-core assets. The properties being sold to Linn Energy produced 275 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day, with proved reserves of 1.242 trillion cubic feet of gas equivalent.

Oklahoma City-based Devon will have lowered its debt by more than $4 billion this year once the sale is complete.

Houston-based Linn Energy said it plans to finance the transaction by selling its Granite Wash assets and other non-producing acreage. The Granite Wash and Cleveland properties are located in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma.

The deal is expected to close in 2014's third quarter.

Devon's stock added 13 cents to $79.63 in morning trading, while shares of Linn Energy rose 23 cents to $31.89.