BP agrees to pay $4B to settle criminal charges

A federal judge signed off on the British company's agreement to pay $4 billion in fines to resolve criminal charges in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill. The company said it had already paid out more than $24 billion on various settlements and cleanup efforts.

The two top BP officers aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, were charged with manslaughter in connection with each of the men who died, and David Rainey, a former vice president, was charged with obstruction of Congress and making false statements for understating the rate at which oil was spilling from the well.  [NY Times]