BP to Pay Record $4.5B Criminal Fine Over 2010 Oil Spill

Matthew Huisman

Corporate Counsel

2012-11-16 00:00:00.0

BPPLC has reached a settlement today with the Justice Department, in which thecompany will pay $4.5 billion and plead guilty to criminal misconduct chargesrelated to the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

According to a release from the company, BP will pay$4 billion to the Justice Department over the course of five years and $525million to the Securities and Exchange Commission over the course of threeyears. The penalty far exceeds the $1.3 billion fine Pfizer forked over in 2009for the false marketing of Bextra pain medication.

As part of the pending settlement, BP plead guilty to11 felony counts of misconduct or neglect of ships officers. The explosion onthe Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig killed 11 workers and pumped oilinto the Gulf of Mexico for three months during the summer of 2010.

Federalprosecutors filed criminal charges against former BP engineer Kurt Mix inAugust for allegedly destroying evidence, amounting to obstruction of justice.In the release, BP said that it will vigorously defend any remaining civilclaims.

“Allof us at BP deeply regret the tragic loss of life caused by the DeepwaterHorizon accident as well as the impact of the spill on the Gulf coast region,” Bob Dudley, BP’s group chief executive, said in a written statement. “From theoutset, we stepped up by responding to the spill, paying legitimate claims andfunding restoration efforts in the Gulf. We apologize for our role in theaccident, and as today’s resolution with the U.S. government further reflects,we have accepted responsibility for our actions.”

Federal prosecutorswill be holding a press conference about the settlement this afternoon in NewOrleans.

This article originally appeared as a post on The BLT: The Blog of LegalTimes.