In the back of arrests Engineer BP Oil Spill Probe

More than two years after the disastrous BP-Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the criminal investigation by the federal government made the first charge. They do not last.The arrest of a former engineer of BP (BP) to remove text that should keep may seem like small potatoes to the U.S. Department of Justice mighty. What hurdle rate really means, however, that the prosecutor focused on trying to cover up the scale of BP Spill in an effort to cut billions of dollars from major environmental criminal law reports Bloomberg News fine.As here, U.S. prosecutors in New Orleans said Tuesday that Kurt Mix, working on BP's internal efforts to estimate the amount of oil leaking from the well, deleted electronic messages between him and his supervisor. Mix, 50, is charged with two as obstruction of justice. "Mix eliminated electronic records related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster response, including notes on the potential amount of oil flowing from the well, after many times of the obligation to maintain such records," said FBI Special Agent Barbara O'Donnell to file an affidavit in the blast case.The on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 workers and caused the worst offshore spill in U.S. history, Bloomberg News said. The Justice Department is investigating the incident and Spill-level estimates, O'Donnell said her affidavit.BP declined to comment on the case against Mix and he will continue to cooperate with the U.S. investigation. "BP has a clear policy requiring the evidence in this case and will be conducted in substantial and sustained efforts to preserve the evidence," said the London-based company with a statement.So what's going on here? Why is the Justice Department to go after such a low level person in charge sounded so around? The short answer is that this is how the federal government has managed to white-collar criminal investigations. Prosecutors Leaning small players in the hope that they would plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence and pointing fingers at people further up the corporate ladder.In this case, the Justice Department seemed to be sending a signal that more specific, in particular, has committed to level Spill and exactly what BP knew about it. (The New Orleans Times-Picayune shipping has some great detail.) BP paid about $ 8 billion in civil claims, and has recently agreed to settle with the claimants for another $ 7.8 billion. Then there are criminal penalties for violations of the Clean Water Act. Penalties can range up to $ 1,100 per barrel for non-accidental spills and up to $ 4,300 per barrel if the spiller is considered grossly negligent. BP and the government privately debating just how many millions of barrels spewing into the Gulf of Mexico (somewhere between 4 million and 5 million) and the company worth label.Mix gross negligence may have some relevant information in the question. More importantly, he can find out who else might have information relevant to the question. That at least part of the reason why he drew the short straw and criminal charges first. Much more on the way.