The Third Coming of Louis Freeh Will Take on the BP Oil Spill Shenanigans

Former FBI director Louis Freeh has enjoyed a few months of low-key lawyering away from the spotlight, and, probably, some vacation time, after he finally concluded his investigation at Penn State. But Freeh is ready for his close-up once again. The Associated Press reports he will head the investigation into whether or not one of the lawyers working under the claims administrator in charge of the BP oil spill settlement improperly received some of the settlement money. BP called for an independent investigation over allegations a lawyer working under administrator Patrick Juneau was paid by the law firm he tipped off before joining the case. The lawyer, Lionel H. Sutton III, allegedly received a portion of the $7.8 billion settlement money from a firm to which he referred claims before joining on behalf of the families and the businesses and communities who suffered damages. Sutton resigned in the middle of June. 

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So Freeh is back in the spotlight and investigating major cases that will have far-reaching and monumental implications for the first time since drawing the ire of the Paterno family. You may remember Freeh from the investigation into whether the Penn State football program, and legendary coach Joe Paterno, covered up assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's child abuse. Paterno's legacy as a school institution and hero was tarnished, perhaps beyond repair, by the findings of the investigation carried out by former FBI chief Louis Freeh. Freeh's report alleged Paterno and other school officials conspired did do just that, and led to the NCAA slamming Penn State with unprecedented sanctions that nearly killed the football program Paterno had spent his life shaping. Freeh, of course, spent much of his life running the FBI — and banking on the wrong man.