BP To Pay $4.5 Billion, Plead Guilty to Felonies In Deepwater Horizon Disaster

BP has agreed to plead guilty to felony charges, as well as pay $4.5 billion in penalties, in relation to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that left 11 workers dead and resulted in a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil giant announced it would plead guilty to 11 felony counts of “misconduct or neglect of ships officers” in the deaths aboard the drilling rig, as well as one felony count of obstruction of Congress regarding information the company gave about the rate of the oil leak. Part of the penalties the company will pay includes $1.26 billion in criminal fines.

BP will also plead guilty on criminal misdemeanor charges under the Clean Water Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as well as pay $2.394 billion to the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and $350 million to the National Academy of Sciences over five years. Additionally, it has agreed to pay $525 million in civil penalties for claims by the Securities Exchange Commission concerning the company’s reporting of the oil flow rate in the aftermath of the explosion.

The agreement is still subject to U.S. federal court approval.

The maritime attorneys at Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P., Accident & Injury Lawyers represent injured offshore workers and families of offshore workers killed in accidents. SMSH is currently representing numerous individuals injured in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.