By Katie Valentine | Climate Progress
BP is balking at the amount of money it owes businesses affected by the Gulf oil spill. The oil giant is doing everything it can to bring it down.
The oil company is claiming that it has had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses that exaggerated or invented losses from the 2010 disaster. Theodore Olson, BP’s lawyer, told an appeals court last week that BP — which, despite the spill, is still one of the most profitable companies in the world — was suffering “irreparable injustices” from these these fictitious losses.
To cut down on this alleged fraud, BP is eliciting the public’s help. The company recently set up a a hotline for reporting fraudulent claims relating the the Gulf oil spill, a tool it calls “a reliable resource for people who want to do the right thing and report fraud or corruption.” According to BP, callers can receive a reward if the claim they report leads to an indictment, recovery of money or denial of a claim. BP also placed full-page ads in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post last month that accused lawyers and politicians of encouraging businesses to submit dishonest claims.
