NY firm to audit oil-spill claims

Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala.

The U.S. Justice Department has tapped New York-based BDO Consulting to audit the handling of billions of dollars in damage claims that arose from the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli told BDO officials in a letter Wednesday that the goal of the independent evaluation due by March is to ensure that any possible errors have been corrected.

The administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility that controls the $20 billion BP compensation fund for victims said he always has welcomed an independent audit. Kenneth Feinberg says the facility will pay for it and will work with the DOJ and consulting firm.

“I long ago endorsed the idea of an independent audit,” Feinberg told The Associated Press Wednesday night.