A law firm whose oil spill claims were halted as part of an investigation into potential fraud in the administration of the $7.8 billion Deepwater Horizon settlement has lost a bid to get its clients paid while BP, which has asserted potential fraud in the process, raised its estimated costs of the deal to $9.6 billion.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier hired former FBI director Louis Freeh a month ago to investigate allegations that two former staff attorneys for claims administrator Patrick Juneau had corrupted the process by accepting payments from The Andry Law Firm in New Orleans. Pending that investigation, Juneau froze claims payments to The Andry Law Firm and Andry Lerner, also in New Orleans.
