BP oil spill: Ex-Halliburton manager pleads guilty to destroying evidence
Source: theguardian.com
Anthony Badalamenti faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine after his guilty plea in US district courtA former Halliburton manager pleaded guilty Tuesday to destroying evidence in the aftermath of the deadly rig explosion that spawned BP’s massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Anthony Badalamenti, 62, of Katy, Texas, faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine after his guilty plea in US district court to one misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence. His sentencing by US district judge Jay Zainey is set for 21 January.Badalamenti was the cementing technology director for Halliburton Energy Services Group, BP’s cement contractor on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Prosecutors said he instructed two Halliburton employees to delete data during a post-spill review of the cement job on BP’s blown-out Macondo well.
Last month, a federal judge accepted a separate plea agreement calling for Halliburton to pay a $200,000 fine for a misdemeanor stemming from Badalamenti’s conduct. Halliburton also agreed to be on probation for three years and to make a $55m contribution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, but that payment was not a condition of the deal.
The 20 April 2010 rig explosion killed 11 workers and led to the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.
In May 2010, according to prosecutors, Badalamenti directed a senior program manager to run computer simulations on centralizers, which are used to keep the casing centered in the wellbore. The results indicated there was little difference between using six or 21 centralizers. The data could have supported BP’s decision to use the lower number.
Badalamenti is accused of instructing the program manager to delete the results. The program manager "felt uncomfortable" about the instruction but complied, according to prosecutors.
[...]
Read the full article at: theguardian.com
Tune into Red Ice Radio:
Ian Crane - Hour 1 - Fracking & The Globalists’ Financial War
Ian Crane - BP Oil Spill, Corexit, Solar Storms & The Bigger Picture
Ian Crane - The Deepwater Horizon Rig Explosion & The BP Oil Spill
