The New York Pension Fund is saying they are suing BP (NYSE:BP) for investment losses. They are hoping to recover some of their losses from the drop that they have experienced with their stocks. Due to BP's negligence that caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
When the Deepwater Rig exploded April 20th, the fund held over 19 million shares according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNopoli. DiNopoli has hired the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers and Toll, he is the sole trustee of the $132.6 billion in the fund.
"BP mislead investors about its safety procedures and its ability to respond to events like the ongoing oil spill and we're going to hold it accountable," said DiNopoli.
One of the largest state pension funds is in Florida and holds $104 billion according to spokesman Dennis Mackee. "We're monitoring the lawsuit and all developments but we have not come to any decisions," said Mackee. The Florida pension fund covers close to 1 million active workers and retirees. They've seen a loss of almost $65 million on their BP investments.
One could easily argue that DiNopli was asleep at the wheels for years.
ReplyDeleteA cursory search of BP "errors" would find:
** "BP's policies are as rusty as its pipelines," Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, told BP executives during a heated September 2006 hearing. "I'm even more concerned about BP's corporate culture of seeming indifference to safety and environmental issues. And this comes from a company that prides itself in their ads on protecting the environment. Shame. Shame. Shame."
** "But its accidents and scandals ranged from a refinery explosion that killed 15 people in Texas City in 2005 to a 212,000-gallon oil spill in Alaska from a corroded pipeline that had not been thoroughly inspected in years."
** "BP had been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 760 “egregious willful” safety violations in its refineries."
As the sole trustee for the fund, why is he holding 19 million shares? What was he waiting for? He should have divested the fund long ago - now he wants them to pay for his failure to act.
Coincidentally, he's up for re-election. I'm sure the proximity of the suit and his re-election campaign are unrelated.