The Department of Justice is placing a high priority on promptly investigating and prosecuting all meritorious reports of fraud related to the oil spill and its aftermath, including fraudulent claims, charity fraud, identity theft, insurance fraud, and procurement and government-benefit fraud. Throughout the Gulf Coast region, United States Attorney's Offices, the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, and federal criminal investigative agencies, with assistance from the National Center for Disaster Fraud, are prepared to handle these cases.
This website will allow you to find current information on the work and progress of federal law enforcement to combat oil-spill fraud. You are here Home » Archives. Attorney Jim Letten. Read more. On the first day of the trial, a lawyer for the justice department said the disaster resulted from BP's "culture of corporate recklessness". One of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Jim Roy, said BP had put "production over protection, profits over safety".
Mr Roy also attacked the rig's operator, Transocean, saying the company's safety official on the rig had received little training: "His training consisted of a three-day course. Amazingly, he had never been aboard the Deepwater Horizon.
He did not spare contractor Halliburton, either, saying it deserved some of the blame for providing BP with cementing of the Macondo well that was "poorly designed, not properly tested and was unstable".
The trial will determine the causes of the spill, and assign responsibility to the parties involved, including BP, Halliburton, Transocean, and Cameron, which manufactured the blowout preventer meant to stop oil leaks. Later, it will determine how much oil actually leaked, which will lead to the calculation of how much the oil companies owe in civil fines.
It is expected to be one of the biggest and costliest trials in decades. BP chief executive Bob Dudley has said he firmly believes the company was not grossly negligent. The trial could last for months, but the risks are so great for BP that it may try to reach a settlement, analysts suggest. Robert Percival, an environmental law professor at the University of Maryland, said: "The risk for both sides is so great - for BP it's their name, reputation and future contracts with the US government.
For the US government it's all the resources they're spending on the trial - particularly if BP is not found grossly negligent. The use of such exclusions went on to widespread abuse under the Bush administration. BP was lobbying as recently as April to expand the use of such exclusions. This meant that there was no longer any need for an environmental impact analysis for deepwater drilling, though an earlier draft stated that such drilling experience was limited.
Obama took office. These are the fruits of decades of malign neglect, and each of them is a disaster waiting to happen, just like the BP spill. In a valuable new study by Jodi Enda in the American Journalism Review we learn that watchdog journalism is almost disappearing owing to its lack of sexiness and the increased pressure on profits at just about every major news organization. Seth Hanlon , Daniel J. Madeline Shepherd Director, Government Affairs.
There was no enforcement. It was established in by Interior Secretary James G. Watt by secretarial order, not legislation, which is a set up that some lawmakers have said made Congress pay less attention to it.
Federal regulators responsible for oversight of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico allowed industry officials several years ago to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil. MMS inspectors accepted meals, tickets to sporting events, and gifts from at least one oil company while they were overseeing the industry. Investigators said they believe the inspector may have been under the influence of the drug during an inspection.
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