Via TPM, news that Halliburton has cut a deal with the DoJ:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Halliburton Energy Services has agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence in connection with the 2010 Gulf oil spill, the Department of Justice said Thursday.
Federal officials said in a news release that a criminal information charging Hallburton with one count of destruction of evidence was filed in federal court in Louisiana.
Halliburton has agreed to pay the maximum fine, be on probation for three years and continue to cooperate with the government’s criminal investigation, said the news release, which did not spell out the fine amount.
The Houston-based company has also made a $55 million voluntary contribution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. It was not a condition of the court agreement, the news release says.
Isn’t that sweet. I’ll bet they wrote it off in their PR budget!
Halliburton was BP’s cement contractor on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The blowout triggered an explosion that killed 11 workers and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.
According to the news release, Halliburton conducted its own review of technical aspects of the well’s design and construction. It also established “an internal working group to examine the Macondo well blowout, including whether the number of centralizers used on the final production casing could have contributed to the blowout.”
Who is responsible when a corporation commits criminal acts? If corporations weren’t “people too” the answer would be the CEO, CFO, and tbe Board of Dirsctors. But the Supreme Court, which represents the 1%, doesn’t want those people to go to jail. So they fine the corporate peoplehood entity instead. Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.