After losing court battle, bankrupt shrimp firm must pay back BP oil spill fund

A Louisiana shrimp company will be required to pay back more than a million dollars it was given by oil company BP after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, after an appeal it filed with a federal United States court failed on Thursday, 25 May.

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Crystal Seafood Company’s request to appeal the decision of a lower court ruling that the company is liable for around USD 1 million (EUR 892,000) it was awarded in 2013. 

Crystal Seafood’s owners, Victor and Christopher Tran, must return the money to the Deepwater Horizon Economic Claims Center (DHECC), the court said, according to a Louisiana Record article.

The special master of the DHECC was established by the district court to investigate fraudulent activity and claims as part the BP settlement. While Crystal Seafood said it was a failed business at the time of the oil spill, the special master alleged that the company processed the last of its shrimp approximately one year before the oil spill. 

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