By Jessica Dye
NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - BP Plc asked a U.S.judge on Tuesday to temporarily halt payments from acourt-supervised settlement fund for certain claims for damagesrelated to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill while former FBIdirector Louis Freeh investigates possible misconduct.
BP said in an emergency request filed in federal court inNew Orleans that a "brief pause" is necessary to ensure theclaims process is not compromised while Freeh completes hisinvestigation.
"(T)here is a material risk that payments going out the doorhave been and continue to be tainted by possibly fraudulent orcorrupt activity," BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said in astatement. "No company would agree to bear the risk of improperpayments in these circumstances."
Freeh was appointed on July 2 by U.S. District Judge CarlBarbier, who is overseeing the civil case over the oil spill, toconduct an independent investigation into allegations ofimproprieties within the Court Supervised Settlement Program, orCSSP.
BP had sought an investigation into allegations that alawyer working for the administrator of the payments hadreferred claims to a New Orleans law firm in exchange for ashare of subsequent settlement payments.
The CSSP is currently conducting its own internalinvestigation, according to court filings. Two attorneys withthe CSSP have resigned in the wake of the allegations, BP saidin its motion. The CSSP is currently making an average of $73million in claims payments per week, BP said.
Freeh recently stepped down as trustee for collapsedbrokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd and previously led an internalinvestigation into the Penn State University sex abuse scandal.