Trial opens for suit against Costner over BP deal

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A New Orleans courtroom will be the setting for a real-life legal drama casting two Hollywood stars in adversarial roles.

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Trial is scheduled to open Monday for Stephen Baldwin's federal lawsuit against fellow actor Kevin Costner over their investments in a device that BP used in trying to clean up the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

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The lawsuit claims Costner and a business partner duped Baldwin and a friend out of their shares of an $18 million deal for BP to buy oil-separating centrifuges after the April 2010 spill.

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Baldwin and his friend, Spyridon Contogouris, said they didn't know about the deal when they agreed to sell their shares of Ocean Therapy Solutions, a company that marketed the centrifuges to BP, for $1.4 million and $500,000, respectively.