BP to get record US criminal fine over Deepwater disaster (four BP staff will be arrested)
Source: BBC
BP to get record US criminal fine over Deepwater disaster
BP is set to receive a record fine of between $3bn and $5bn (£1.9bn-£3.2bn) to settle criminal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the BBC has learnt.
It will be the biggest criminal penalty in US history, BBC business editor Robert Peston says.
The settlement with the Department of Justice involves BP pleading guilty to criminal charges.
It is thought that up to four BP staff will be arrested, Robert Peston says.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20336898
blueclown
(1,869 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)wordpix
(18,652 posts)thucythucy
(8,069 posts)As I recall, Big Tobacco was on course to pay a huge fine for misleading the public for decades about how addictive and dangerous tobacco was. This was under the Clinton DoJ. One of the first things the newly elected Bush II administration did was to cut the fine down practically to nothing.
Had Romney won, I expect the same would have happened here.
tride12
(2 posts)and executives arrested.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)CountAllVotes
(20,875 posts)Then the real criminals can be dealt with!
and Welcome to the Democratic Underground!!
Overseas
(12,121 posts)EnviroBat
(5,290 posts)this STILL seems like a "slap on the wrist"...
ancianita
(36,066 posts)EnviroBat
(5,290 posts)Sgent
(5,857 posts)There are still civil fines, the cost of cleanup, and reimbursement to businesses and individuals who suffered harm left to come.
thatgemguy
(506 posts)Corporations get to negotiate their punishments. This is such a weak sentence for the environmental damages done. Prosecute BP to the max... death sentence, if possible!
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)a group of lawyers representing victims of the spill.
I am curious as to who gets what monies from all these settlements.
Obviously the lawyers will get a huge chunk.
KansDem
(28,498 posts)And don't "persons" who commit criminal acts go to prison?
So why isn't BP going to prison?
One_Life_To_Give
(6,036 posts)Bet they got all of their bonus payments and moved on up the corporate ladder. Probably didn't miss a single trip to the country club or not purchase the latest sports car etc.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Hope it is the execs responsible.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)and for a disaster of this magnitude. Anything less than $100 billion is a sham. BP should be out panhandling for change after what they did to the gulf.
And let's not forget that during those insane few months of that disaster, none of us were fully certain that there was anything that could be done to stop it. There was no guarantee that any of the proposed solutions, including a relief well, would work. And if nothing had, the environmental consequences to our planet would have been beyond devastating.
BP put the whole future of the planet at stake for their short-term gain. $5 billion? Not even a slap on the wrist to them.