BP launches hotline for reporting oil spill claims fraud

HOUSTON, July 15 (Xinhua) -- British oil giant BP has launched a hotline for people to report allegations of fraud relating to its multibillion-dollar settlement with Gulf Coast businesses and residents that suffered losses in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

BP said in a press release Monday that the launch of the hotline comes as federal authorities clamp down on fraud and other abuses in the claims process.

Federal prosecutors in Florida, Alabama and Louisiana have secured guilty pleas and convictions in recent months against numerous people who tried to claim money that they were not entitled to, BP said.

BP said it so far has spent 14 billion U.S. dollars to clean the spill and help restore the environment. The oil giant said it has also paid more than 300,000 claims totaling more than 11 billion U.S. dollars to help restore the Gulf Coast economy.

The Deepwater Horizon was drilling BP's Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, when it caught fire and exploded. The mishap killed 11 workers and triggered one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

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