Former BP Engineer Enters Guilty Plea, Avoids Prison Time for 2010 Gulf Spill

摘要

A former BP Plc engineer pleaded guilty to deleting text messages in what the U.S. said was an attempt to hide spill rate estimates during the biggest offshore oil disaster in U.S. history (United States v. Mix, E.D. La., No. 12-cr-00171, 11/6/15). Kurt Mix faced as much as 20 years in prison if convicted at trial. Instead, he was sentenced to probation and community service Nov. 6 as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Mix was the first of four men charged with crimes tied to the 2010 catastrophe and its aftermath. He had denied Justice Department accusations that he intentionally hid that the flow rate was thousands of barrels more per day than London-based BP publicly disclosed. Eleven men died after the blowout of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico caused the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon rig above.