French prosecutors in Paris opened a preliminary investigation in early April into Lebanese banks accused of moving billions of euros out of Lebanon at the height of the country's 2019 financial collapse. Two anti-corruption associations filed complaints alleging that the funds were transferred from Lebanese bank accounts to European subsidiaries through opaque methods, benefiting wealthy clients and shareholders while ordinary depositors were left unable to access their savings. The inquiry will also examine whether French financial authorities were aware of the transfers, which lawyers for the plaintiffs describe as "mass money laundering" carried out at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese citizens.