In the middle of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by BP drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, a number of news outlets got a bunch of yuks with the news that Kevin Costner was the potential savior for the crisis – that his company, CINC (Costner in Nevada Corporation “), had developed a technology that separated oil from water.
In a new lawsuit in Louisiana District Court on Wednesday, actor Stephen Baldwin and a friend named Spyridon Contogouris claim they were tricked into selling shares of the company that CINC technology market.
According to the complaint Contogouris was approached in early 2000 by representatives of the actor Costner technology market to different consumers. He says he’s an agreement that he would be a commission on the sale of units received.
Flash forward to April 17, 2010.
Costner and Contogouris had a joint dinner in Biloxi, Mississippi, where Costner’s band, Modern West, was one of our shows.
By that time, the complaint says, Costner’s efforts to market its technology had proved unsuccessful, and all his rights and property sold in CINC to a man named Bret Shelton.
Three days after Costner and Contogouris had gotten together, Deepwater Horizon exploded, which would eventually lead to leakage of nearly 5 million liters of oil into the Gulf of Mexico before the well was capped.
Contogouris knew it was a great opportunity for CINC. He says he tried to contact Costner, but could not because the actor was filming a movie in Canada.
Instead Contogouris spoke with one of Costner’s friends, who advised him that the actor has sold stock in the company. So Contogouris spoke with Shelton, and tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with BP.
Now, Baldwin is the image.
In late April, Contogouris and Baldwin met in New Orleans with a local lawyer, John Houghtaling, and discussed making a documentary film based on the BP oil spill. Costner’s technology was then discussed.
Houghtaling said he could make an introduction to BP, and before long, a joint venture agreement between Baldwin was confected, Contogouris, Houghtaling, and others to the CINC technology market to BP.
On May 13, the joint venture, Ocean therapies Solutions (OTS), signed an agreement with CINC, which Contogouris had a 28 percent ownership and Baldwin received a 10 percent stake in the new company.
That same day, BP agreed to the CINC to test technology for possible use in cleaning up the spill Deepwater Horizon.
source:reuters
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