In late 2014, the French far-right National Front (FN) party received a €9.4 million loan from the First Czech Russian Bank, a privately owned Russian financial institution with “links to the Kremlin,” according to BBC. According to the party’s chief financial officer, Wallerand de Saint-Just, the party chose the bank with the assistance of an unspecified FN Member of the European Parliament who had “connections with Russians.” News reports claim that Alexander Babakov, a Russian government official, helped arrangement the loan. According to BBC, negotiations for the loan coincided with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, which FN leader Marine Le Pen supported, causing “some to question whether the loans were a quid-pro-quo.” The license of the bank’s Czech subsidiary was later revoked on the grounds of anti-money laundering violations. A separate report also revealed that Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of FN, also took “a separate $2.5 million loan from a holding company belonging to a former KGB agent,” according to The New York Times.