NEW ORLEANS — A federal jury Friday found a former BP executive not guilty of making false statements to investigators in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Prosecutors said David Rainey, in the early days of the spill, had manipulated calculations to match a far-too-low government estimate of the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. He was charged with lying about having done so during a 2011 interview with federal investigators. However, defense attorneys said Rainey’s figures were made honestly and that he had no reason to lie.
“I agree with the verdict,” U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt said as he thanked the jurors.
“We respect the jury’s verdict,” Leo Tsao, a federal prosecutor, said speaking after the trial.
Rainey’s trial focused on an early National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimate, days after the spill began, of about 5,000 barrels a day, and whether Rainey had “backed into” his own calculations to match that estimate.
