Kenneth Feinberg and his law firm, which oversees the doling out of compensation to oil spill victims, have been paid $850,000 a month by BP since the compensation fund was created in mid-June.
BP agreed to pay Feinberg Rozen LLP $850,000 a month from mid-June through Oct. 1, according to Bloomberg — a grand total of $2.5 million.
Feinberg’s firm was appointed by the White House to administer a (eventually) $20 billion escrow fund, funded by BP in order to pay claims by fishermen, hotel owners and others hurt by the oil spill.
The pay report was released Friday by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Feinberg Rozen had hired Mukasey to analyze the pay package.
Mukasey, whom Feinberg worked with in the New York justice department in the 1970s, found that it was a reasonable price.
“All of the work to date has proceeded against a backdrop of intense pressure from diverse stakeholders — including but by no means limited to the White House and BP — to work quickly,” he said.
A source told Bloomberg the $850,000 monthly rate will continue through the end of the year.
Running the fund has not been an altogether smooth experience for Feinberg, who has also administered funds to 9/11 victims and was the administration’s CEO pay czar. The DOJ last month wrote a letter to Feinberg demanding that he speed up the process for paying out claims.
Earlier this week, Feinberg said it was fraud that’s slowing things down, adding that a third of the more than 100,000 applicants need to provide more documentation for their claims.
“At the beginning, it’s always rough,” he said. “Hopefully, by the end of this program, people will feel that the fund treated them fairly.”
