The enormous penalty for France's largest bank comes after the company "conspired to facilitate billions of dollars' worth of illegal transactions".
US Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said these "violated US law and US sanctions against Sudan, Iran, and Cuba".
He said BNPP's conduct began in the last decade, and continued through 2012, years after it was told it was violating US law.
The bank "deliberately disregarded" the law and "placed its financial network at the services of rogue nations, all to improve its bottom line", he said.
Mr Caldwell said: "The nature and scope of BNPP's criminal conduct far exceeded that in any previous criminal sanctions case resolved by the Department of Justice.
"Today's $8.973 billion penalty (£5.2bn) represents the staggering total volume of provable criminal conduct.
{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}

"And BNPP's conduct was uniquely sophisticated, involving the manipulation of documents, records and transactions, and the use of other 'satellite' banks as 'fronts' to evade detection.
"Not only did BNPP commit severe criminal acts, but then, BNPP hindered our ability to prosecute the individuals that engaged in that wrongdoing. It must now accept the criminal consequences of its actions."
A BNP Paribas statement said a number of managers and employees from relevant business have either been sanctioned or they have left following an internal review.

The bank has put in place what it called "new robust compliance and control procedures" as part of its response and settlement actions.

• It has created a new department called Group Financial Security US, part of the Group Compliance function, which will be headquartered in New York and will ensure that BNP Paribas complies globally with US regulation related to international sanctions and embargoes.
• all USD flows for the entire BNP Paribas Group will be ultimately processed and controlled via the branch in New York.

Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, chief executive of BNP Paribas, said: "We deeply regret the past misconduct that led to this settlement.
"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.
"We have announced today a comprehensive plan to strengthen our internal controls and processes, in ongoing close coordination with the US authorities and our home regulator to ensure that we do not fall below the high standards of responsible conduct we expect from everyone associated with BNP Paribas".
BNP Paribas has offices in 75 countries with more than 180,000 employees, including more than 140,000 in Europe.