Posted byBP has agreed to set aside $20 Billion Dollars in a fund to be administered by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg (who is now the TARP Fund Pay Czar). BP will pay the $20 Billion in installments over the next four years. The $20 Billion is not a cap and BP could be asked to pay more before things are all over. Also, the $20 Billion does not include fines or civil penalties.
BP has also announced that they will suspend paying dividends for 2010 (saving $5 Billion) and reconsider them in 2011.
Category: Accidents, Current Events
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Here’s who was at the meeting:
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, BP CEO Tony Hayward, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP General Counsel Rupert Bondy, BP Managing Director Robert Dudley, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Comment by Mark Paradies — June 18, 2010 @ 4:10 pm
I wonder what was traded away to get BP to commit to a $20 Billion Dollar fund? certainly this was a PR coup for the White House. Do you think BP’s leaders got any assurances that there would be no criminal prosecution of executives? Or maybe no criminal prosecution of BP the company? Eric Holder – Attorney General – being at the meeting makes me wonder.
Do you think they would trade justice for money? Or perhaps reduced fines?
It would be interesting to see transcripts of the meeting. I wonder if they are available through a Freedom of Information request?
Comment by Mark Paradies — June 18, 2010 @ 4:15 pm
Here’s the President’s comments about the meeting:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-after-meeting-with-bp-executives
Note that the $75 Million cap only applied IF there was no criminal or gross negligence. I don’t think it would be hard to get a Louisiana jury to find in favor of criminal or gross negligence. So I think BP already knew that the cap was gone.
Comment by Mark Paradies — June 18, 2010 @ 4:19 pm
One more note. Now it is the government’s fault if people in the gulf don’t get relief checks quickly. BP has almost washed their hands of the main claims process.
Comment by Mark Paradies — June 18, 2010 @ 4:21 pm