New
York
(ANI):
A
friend
of
actor
Stephen
Baldwin
has
claimed
that
Kevin
Costner
cheated
him
out
of
millions
in
a
scheme
that
stemmed
from
the
devastating
BP
oil
spill
this
year.
Baldwin
and
his
friend
Spyridon
Contogouris
accused
Costner
of
conning
them
into
giving
up
their
shares
in
an
oil-cleanup
company
by
failing
to
tell
them
the
firm
had
just
signed
a
52
million
dollar
deal
with
BP.
According
to
the
filing,
people
from
Costner"s
group
told
the
two
that
there
was
no
deal
to
sell
their
oil-separating
centrifuges
to
BP
and
then
bought
them
out
using
money
they
had
already
received
from
their
agreement
with
BP.
"This
action
effectively
robbed
plaintiffs
of
a
distribution
that
otherwise
would
have
been
payable
to
plaintiffs," the
New
York
Post
quoted
the
suit
as
reading.
Baldwin
was
bought
out
for
500,000
dollars
and
Contogouris
for
1.4
million
dollars,
while
Costner's
group
pocketed
28
million
dollars
in
profits
from
their
pioneering
disaster
equipment,
the
suit
says.
According
to
the
suit,
Contogouris
and
Costner
had
worked
together
since
the
early
2000s,
when
they
struck
a
deal
for
the
businessman
to
help
the
actor-director
market
oil-and-water-separating
technology.
But
the
project
didn"t
work
and
Costner
sold
off
the
rights
to
his
centrifuge
company,
the
suit
says.
When
the
oil
spill
occurred,
Contogouris
said,
investors
formed
a
company
that
struck
a
deal
with
Costner's
old
company
and
started
marketing
the
devices
to
BP,
which
decided
to
test
it
in
May.
Contogouris
said
he
and
Baldwin
started
discussions
about
getting
out
in
early
June,
not
knowing
that
Costner
and
two
others
had
a
meeting
with
BP
scheduled
for
June
8.
Costner
testified
before
Congress
the
next
day
and
indicated
that
"BP
had
placed
an
order
for
a
number
of
units,"
the
suit
says.
When
Contogouris
asked
about
the
deal,
he
was
told
there
wasn't
one.
They
signed
a
deal
two
days
later
to
sell
their
shares
back,
the
suit
says.
Only
a
month
later
did
they
realize
that
Costner
had
been
telling
the
truth
to
Congress
--
he
had
struck
a
deal
at
the
June
8
meeting
with
BP
to
sell
32
of
their
machines
for
52
million
dollars,
and
BP
had
already
turned
over
an
18
million
dollars
deposit
by
the
time
Baldwin
and
Contogouris
cashed
out.