Is BP like the Mafia? With reports that BP chief executive officer Tony Hayward is preparing to step down within the next 10 and the company preparing to sell $10 billion worth of assets to pay for the oil spill clean-up, litigants are now using anti-racketeering laws to bring BP to justice.
Associated Press reports that the laws that were brought in to bust the Mafia are now being used against BP and Transocean, which leased the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling rig to BP.
The companies have been named in three lawsuits under the RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law. The lawsuits allege that BP committed wire and mail fraud over a number of years by filing false documents with the American government, and misled investors . The lawsuits also claim BP is guilty of bribery by providing favors to federal regulators such as alcohol and drugs, sex, golf and ski trips, concert and sports tickets, and more.
One of the lawsuits says: "The pattern of racketeering activity engaged in by defendants involves a scheme to fraudulently create a pretense of safety to the public while, at every turn, seeking to avoid the costs associated with actually conducting their operations in a safe manner."
Under the RICO laws, you can get 20 years jail on each racketeering count. If nothing else, the lawsuits guarantee that BP will still be in the courts for years to come.
no comment untill now