The two highest-ranking BP executives supervising the drilling of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico were charged Thursday with 22 counts of manslaughter stemming from the 2010 blowout and explosion that killed 11 workers.
US Attorney General Eric Holder announced the indictments against Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, including 11 counts of seaman's manslaughter and 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter. The two men were also charged with a violation of the Clean Water Act.
"In the face of glaring red flags indicating that the well was not secure, both men allegedly failed to take appropriate action to prevent the blowout," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said during a press conference in New Orleans.
A federal grand jury in New Orleans also charged former BP executive David Rainey with hiding information from Congress and allegedly lying to law enforcement officials. Rainey served as the deputy incident commander and BP's second-highest ranking representative at the Unified Command during the spill response.
"Rainey allegedly cherry-picked pages from documents, withheld other documents altogether and lied to Congress and others in order to make the spill appear less catastrophic than it was," Breuer said.
The three criminal indictments were announced as part of a larger settlement with BP, which itself agreed to plead guilty to 11 charges of felony manslaughter for its role in the disaster.
