Posted on 11/15/2012 9:16:14 AM PST by Baynative
LONDON — BP, the British oil company, said Thursday it would pay $4.5 billion in fines and other payments to the United States government and plead guilty to 14 criminal charges in connection with the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Two things jump out at me.
1. The huge fine going to our government should be going to businesses and families injured by the spill.
2. Giving this money to environmental organizations means it will be used largely to fight freedom and promote Obama's agenda.
Okay, well then....by my reckoning the Messiah owes BP about 5.5 Billion Dollars..... Obama, please deduct the award from the $10 Billion you extorted from BP during your magic vacation from reality.
The US Gov’t Mafia is going after Walmart, too. They are broke and have lots of voters to pay off, so they will be shaking down any business with deep pockets.
From the article: “Even with a settlement on the criminal claims, BP would still be subject to other claims, including federal civil claims and claims for damages to natural resources.”
The admission to criminal charges will make it easier for plaintiffs in the civil cases to prevail. This $4 billion is chump change. No doubt the federal government, state governments, shareholders, and environmental groups will be filing civil suits worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Ironically, WalMart gave Obama BIG BUCKS!
Just a backhanded way of partially nationalizing the oil companies.
Did not Exxon Valdez end up in a 5 billion settlement? And was not the settlement overturned on appeal???
I am surprised that BP buckled. Look at how long it went on all because of Barry Soetoro’s desire for all of us horrible Americans to see how disgusting oil is. He turned down help from all over the world. Statement of Obvious: our PINO is the criminal in all of this.
and what pray tell, were the “crimes”
total bulls8
The big thing that jumped out to me was that Transocean - the OWNER of the BOP Stack and the Drilling Platform and who bypassed their contracted preventative/corrective maintenance regimes - was not cited or charged. BP was the paying passenger on the Transocean taxi.
British oil giant BP says it has agreed to pay $4 billion to the U.S. government over five years to resolve all criminal claims stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico rig explosion and oil spill. It’s by far the largest criminal penalty in American history.
Also Thursday, at least three BP workers were expected to face charges in connection with the disaster and its aftermath. A criminal complaint filed by the Justice Department singled out two BP well-site leaders for the failure of a pressure test on BP’s blown-out well, and a BP executive for providing government officials with flow estimates that were lower than what the company actually knew at the time.
The complaint itself charged BP with seaman’s manslaughter and other counts, but didn’t specify charges against individuals. However, it indicated at least three BP workers would be separately charged, and lawyers for two of those workers named said they were in contact with the government about possible charges.
As part of its plea deal, BP said it has agreed as a company to plead guilty to 11 felony counts of misconduct or neglect of ships officers — specifically, seaman’s manslaughter is cited in the complaint — relating to the deaths of the 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
It also will plead guilty to one misdemeanor count under the Clean Water Act; one misdemeanor count under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; and one felony count of obstruction of Congress. This resolution is subject to U.S. federal court approval.
It also said Thursday it will pay $525 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission claims stemming from the disaster. That money will be paid over three years. In a related filing in federal court in New Orleans, the SEC charged that BP “materially misrepresented and understated the estimated range of flow rate of oil leaking from the well in three public filings furnished to the commission,” and also omitted material information from the public filings regarding its own internal data, estimates and calculations indicating that the flow rate estimate contained in the filings was “unjustifiably” low.
“All of us at BP deeply regret the tragic loss of life caused by the Deepwater Horizon accident as well as the impact of the spill on the Gulf coast region,” BP chief Bob Dudley said in a statement. “From the outset, we stepped up by responding to the spill, paying legitimate claims and funding restoration efforts in the Gulf. We apologize for our role in the accident, and as today’s resolution with the U.S. government further reflects, we have accepted responsibility for our actions.”
Thirteen of the 14 criminal charges relate to the accident itself and are based on the negligent misinterpretation of the negative pressure test conducted on board the Deepwater Horizon, BP said.
The remaining criminal count pertains to two BP communications made to a member of Congress during the spill response about flow rate estimates. BP has been accused of intentionally underestimating how much oil was flowing for weeks after the disaster.
The Justice Department scheduled a 1 p.m. news conference in New Orleans to address the fast-moving developments. Attorney General Eric Holder was expected to be on hand.
The negative pressure test allegation that BP admitted has ensnared several BP officials, including two well-site leaders involved with the blown-out well.
One of BP’s representatives on the Deepwater Horizon voiced concern about the well pressure test hours before the rig exploded. That was BP well-site leader Donald Vidrine.
Vidrine’s attorney, Robert Habans, said Thursday he has been in contact with a government official about his client. But Habans would not say whether his client will be charged, saying it’s premature “until I see the existence of charges.”
Shaun Clarke, an attorney for BP well-site leader Robert Kaluza, said he is waiting to see if his client is charged.
“I could not disagree more strongly with the statement that there was negligence committed by the well-site leaders,” Clarke said.
The criminal complaint against BP singled out both Vidrine and Kaluza for wrongdoing, as well as David Rainey, a former BP vice president in charge of exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. It said all three would be “separately charged.”
BP said it will now focus on resolving remaining claims, which include Clean Water Act fines that could add billions more to BP’s already hefty tab. Thursday’s settlement doesn’t address that issue. It previously paid out or committed tens of billions of dollars for cleanup costs and on compensating victims.
BP has also agreed to a term of five years’ probation.
Pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement, BP has also agreed to take additional actions to further enhance the safety of drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The resolution also provides for the appointment of two monitors, both with terms of four years, BP said.
It was not clear if BP’s partners involved in the disaster, Deepwater Horizon rig owner Transocean and cement contractor Halliburton, also would resolve any criminal liability they might face. Officials at those companies did not respond to requests for comments late Wednesday and early Thursday.
BP’s Macondo well blew out in the Gulf off Louisiana in April 2010, spewing nearly 4.9 million barrels of oil, according to government estimates that to this point BP has disputed. It was the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Eleven rig workers were killed when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded.
BP said it has agreed as a company to plead guilty to 11 felony counts of misconduct or neglect of ships officers — specifically, seaman’s manslaughter is cited in the complaint — relating to the deaths of the 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
It also will plead guilty to one misdemeanor count under the Clean Water Act; one misdemeanor count under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; and one felony count of obstruction of Congress.
And the $4 billion will be passed on to the consumer.
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