Costner testifies in Baldwin, BP suit

NEW ORLEANS — Kevin Costner testified Friday he never saw actor Stephen Baldwin contribute anything to their company’s efforts to sell oil cleanup devices to BP in the aftermath of the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Baldwin and friend Spyridon Contogouris sued Costner and business partner Patrick Smith, claiming they were duped into selling their shares of Ocean Therapy Solutions — the company that marketed the machines to BP — and cheated them out of millions of dollars.

Costner said he wondered what Baldwin was doing for their company before BP agreed to make an $ 18 million deposit on a $ 52 million order for 32 oil- separating centrifuges.

“I never saw him do anything,” Costner said.

Costner said the company’s CEO, John Houghtaling, begged Baldwin and Contogouris not to sell their shares shortly before BP committed to buying the devices. Only Smith and Houghtaling were putting up money to keep their company afloat in the days before BP ordered the machines, according to Costner.

Costner and Baldwin have largely ignored each other in the courtroom during the trial, which started Monday and is expected to last another week. But Costner snapped at Baldwin from the witness stand as he recalled being frustrated by how the press portrayed his efforts to sell the centrifuges to BP while the oil giant was scrambling to stop the flow of oil from its blown- out well.

“I had to get over the mythology of Kevin and his crazy machine,” Costner said, a remark that apparently drew a reaction from Baldwin, who was seated at the plaintiffs’ table with his back to the courtroom gallery.

“Are you amused by this?” Costner asked Baldwin, who didn’t respond before U. S. District Judge Martin Feldman interrupted.