Oil giant BP settles price-fixing charges ($373 million in fines)

[sabra]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Oil and gas giant BP PLC will pay $373 million in fines and restitution in an agreement to be announced Thursday to end an investigation into whether it manipulated energy markets in 2004, federal officials said.

Additionally, four former BP employees are expected to be indicted by a grand jury in Chicago on mail and wire fraud charges, a law enforcement official said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the settlement nor the indictments had been announced. The Justice Department was expected to announce the charges at a 1 p.m. EDT news conference in Washington.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21471698/

[chunkylover55]

1. Thats probably a pittance compared to their profits on a quarterly

basis, and how much they screwed consumers out of. . .

[goforit]

2. Hmmm.....A possible collusion with Exxon/Chevron as well?

Karma inching closer.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. BP to Pay $373 Million in Federal Probe

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and gas giant BP PLC will pay $373 million in fines and restitution in an agreement to be announced Thursday to end an investigation into whether it manipulated energy markets in 2004, federal officials said.

Additionally, four former BP employees are expected to be indicted by a grand jury in Chicago on mail and wire fraud charges, a law enforcement official said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the settlement nor the indictments had been announced. The Justice Department was expected to announce the charges at a 1 p.m. EDT news conference in Washington.

Federal investigators have been looking at whether BP traders tried to pump up profits by cornering the propane market, driving spot prices in February 2004 as high as 94 cents a gallon in places like New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIbWL76OB7cMmi18PjxD8UVTx7jQ

[rAVES]

4. BP fined $373m by US government

Source: BBC

The US Department of Justice has fined oil giant BP $373m (£182m), for breaking environmental rules and committing fraud.

The fine includes a $50m fee for a Texas refinery explosion in 2005 that killed 15 people and injured 180 more.

That sum is the highest fine of its kind under the Clean Air Act.

The largest part of the fine relates to a price manipulation scandal from April 2003 to February 2004, over which four ex-BP workers have also been indicted.

snip>

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7062669.stm

[opihimoimoi]

5. Much too small....should be more like 373 BILLION$$$$$

373 Mil is their yard care bill

[rAVES]

6. Great way to pay for the war!!

[Judi Lynn]

7. Four BP traders charged with price manipulation

Source: Houston Chronicle

Oct. 25, 2007, 5:02PM
Four BP traders charged with price manipulation

By TOM FOWLER
Houston Chronicle Copyright 2007

Four former BP energy traders from Houston were indicted today on federal charges alleging they manipulated propane prices.

The indictments, filed with a federal judge in Chicago this morning, say the four took part in a scheme to manipulate the price of propane flowing through a pipeline from Mont Belvieu, in Chambers County, to markets in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York in 2004.
(snip)

As part of its settlement, BP will pay a $125 million civil fine to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, $100 million to the Justice Department, $53.3 million to a restitution fund meant for purchasers of the propane BP sold, and $25 million to a U.S. Postal Service consumer fraud education fund.

The $53.3 million damages figure will be an important factor in any criminal cases brought against the individuals since the amount of monetary harm usually is central to sentencing decisions in white-collar cases.

Another BP trader in the propane case, Dennis Abbott, pleaded guilty in 2006 to one count of conspiracy to manipulate the price of a commodity. That charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, a fine of $250,000 and other restitution.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5245852.html

[Judi Lynn]

8. BP will plead to felony in plant blast

Source: Houston Chronicle

Oct. 25, 2007, 5:23PM
BP will plead to felony in plant blast

By KRISTEN HAYS and TOM FOWLER
Houston Chronicle Copyright 2007

Archived reports, maps and more BP will plead guilty next month to violating the Clean Air Act and pay a $50 million fine for lax safety that contributed to the deaths of 15 workers in the March 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery, U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said today.

DeGabrielle said in a Houston news conference that the Nov. 27 felony plea and fine stem from a confluence of events: BP's lack of process safety systems in place, its knowing placement of flimsy trailers near an aging vent stack that was a potential ignition source in a unit that boosted the octane in gasoline; and failure to inform workers that the company was about to restart the unit, a potentially dangerous process that requires particular attention to safety.

As DeGabrielle spoke in Houston, acting Attorney General Peter Keisler opened a news conference in Washington to discuss the Texas City deal as well as two other agreements to settle separate BP investigations.

Those deals are:

•A guilty plea to an environmental crime and $20 million in payments related to 2006 leaks in oil pipelines feeding the Trans Alaskan Pipeline in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The case stems from two spills from corroded pipelines, including a 267,000-gallon leak that was the largest spill ever on Alaska's North Slope.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5245340.html

[dipsydoodle]

9. Are they separate fines from this lot ?

BP fined $373m by US government

The US Department of Justice has said that oil giant BP will be fined a total of $373m (£182m), for environmental crimes and committing fraud.
The fines include $50m relating to a Texas refinery explosion in 2005 that killed 15 people and injured 170 more.

That sum is the highest fine of its kind levied under the Clean Air Act.

The largest fine - $303m - relates to a price manipulation scam between April 2003 and February 2004, over which four ex-BP workers have been indicted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7062669.stm

Over here they'd have faced Corporate Manslaughter/Homicide charges too :
http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2007/08/06/41798/corporate-manslaughter-legal-q.html

[Ilsa]

10. Bastards. My father retired from

ARCO, a company bought by BP. His retirement has been honored so far. But he is worried that the fines will cause them to jerk the retirees around on benefits, etc. I hope that is impossible, but it seems like it could happen.