BP Seeks Halt To Gulf Oil Spill Settlement Payouts

British Petroleum has asked a federal court to halt, on a temporary basis, all settlement payments to residents and businesses along the Gulf Coast who claim they lost money because of the 2010 oil spill.

In addition, former FBI Director Louis Freeh is currently investigating allegations of misconduct by one of the lawyers who helped to administer the multibilion dollar settlement plan.

BP's attorneys are saying that because of the allegations, there is always a chance that there are other questions about wrong doing.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has yet to rule on the request.

In April of this year, Barbier refused to block what could be billions of dollars of payments to businesses after BP argued that the claims administrator Patrick Juneau have misinterpreted the settlement and forced the company to cover inflated and fictitious losses.