BP said today it is in advanced discussions with the United States Department of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding proposed resolutions of all federal claims against BP in connection with the Deepwater Horizon incident.
Reuters reported yesterday BP would plead guilty in the case, but BP said this morning that “no final agreements have yet been reached and any resolutions, if agreed, would be subject to federal court approvals in the United States.”
One question hanging over the talks has been the question of whether BP will be forced to plead guilty to felony counts, or be granted a deferred prosecution agreement.
David Uhlmann, the former head of the Environmental Crimes Section at the Justice Department, is currently a professor at the University of Michigan Law School.
In an interview with Corporate Crime Reporter last year, Uhlmann warned against a deferred prosecution in the BP case.
“Deferred prosecution would be completely inappropriate after a tragedy like the Gulf oil spill,” Uhlmann said at the time.
“Eleven people died. A fragile ecosystem was irreparably damaged. Communities along the Gulf suffered billions in economic losses.”
“If the companies that caused such terrible damage do not deserve criminal prosecution, it is hard to imagine when criminal prosecution would be warranted.”
“Congress provided three remedies to the government for addressing environmental violations – criminal prosecution, civil enforcement, or administrative penalties.”
“A deferred prosecution is not a fourth remedy. A deferred prosecution is an agreement not to seek criminal charges in exchange for the functional equivalent of civil penalties.”
“It is one thing when a first-time offender commits a minor drug offense and is told by prosecutors that she will not face criminal charges if she performs community service and does not commit any future violations.”
“It is an entirely different matter when a large corporation is allowed to avoid criminal prosecution, by agreeing to pay millions – or billions – in civil penalties.”
“Apart from the ethical questions deferred prosecutions raise, they send a terrible message – if corporations agree to pay the government enough money, they can avoid criminal charges.”
“We would never allow a wealthy individual to avoid criminal charges by paying the government large sums of money, and we should not allow large corporations to do so either.”
“The Gulf oil spill is a clear cut criminal violation of the Clean Water Act, the Seaman’s Manslaughter Statute, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.”
“If the outcome of the Gulf oil spill case is a deferred prosecution, the Justice Department will have a lot of explaining to do.”
BP said today that the proposed resolutions are not expected to cover federal civil claims, including Clean Water Act claims, federal and state Natural Resource Damages claims or private civil claims.