Oil giant BP is seeking an investigation into allegations a lawyer working for the administrator reviewing claims for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill collected portions of settlement payments.The lawyer, Lionel Sutton, is accused of referring claims to a New Orleans law firm in exchange for a share of subsequent settlement payments, according to the Associated Press.Sutton acknowledged in an email late Thursday that he was told he was suspended "pending an investigation of an anonymous allegation against me.""I have not been made aware of the substance of the allegation or the status of the investigation," Sutton wrote, according to the news wire. "Once this is resolved, I would be happy to discuss it all with you."The news comes ahead of a July 8th hearing where BP is appealing against the manner in which claims have been handled by court-appointed administrator, Patrick Juneau.BP is disputing the way settlements were interpreted by Juneau who was put in charge of deciding who should receive compensation from BP for the 2010 disaster. The oil company has incurred tens of billions of dollars in costs of compensating those affected by the spill, which killed 11 men and became the worse offshore environmental disaster in the US.RD