( CNN ) -- Oilfield services giant Halliburton pleaded guilty Thursday to destroying test results that investigators had sought as evidence in the Deepwater Horizon disaster , and federal prosecutors announced a related charge against one of its executives . In a federal court in New Orleans , Halliburton admitted to throwing out test results on the design of the well at the heart of the disaster . The company was given the maximum fine of $ 200,000 on the charge , the Justice Department said . In announcing the plea , the Justice Department also announced that it was accusing Anthony Badalamenti , who was Halliburton 's cementing technology director at the time of the blowout , with a single count of destroying evidence . Halliburton and well owner BP are still battling in court over responsibility for the April 2010 disaster . Halliburton , as the cement contractor on the well , says it told BP to use more devices to center the cement casing in the well but BP ignored its advice . The issue has been a key point of contention between the two companies in hearings and litigation ever since . But prosecutors accused Halliburton of running computer simulations in May and June 2010 that showed `` little difference '' between the 21 centralizers it says it recommended and the six BP eventually used -- and then destroying the results . Thursday 's charge against Badalamenti alleges that he gave the order to destroy the results . Efforts to contact him for comment were not immediately successful . The Deepwater Horizon blowout killed 11 rig workers and unleashed the biggest oil spill in U.S. history . The federal government estimates more than 200 million gallons poured out of the ruptured well , located nearly a mile underwater off southeastern Louisiana . The environmental effects of the disaster are still being determined , and BP says it has paid out $ 32 billion for cleanup , compensation and penalties . In 2011 , BP accused Halliburton of destroying evidence -- including `` inexplicably missing '' computer modeling results -- `` to eliminate any risk that this evidence would be used against it at trial . '' Halliburton is the last of the three major players to admit criminal wrongdoing in the 2010 blowout and resulting oil spill . BP has admitted to manslaughter and 13 other criminal counts and agreed to pay $ 4 billion in fines , while Transocean , owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig , admitted to violating the Clean Water Act and paid $ 1.4 billion in civil and criminal penalties . A federal report in 2011 concluded that BP , Halliburton and Transocean all violated federal offshore safety regulations and shared responsibility for the disaster . CNN 's Chris Boyette contributed to this report .
Halliburton destroyed computer tests after Deepwater Horizon , prosecutors say . Prosecutors charge a company manager as the company pleads guilty . The Deepwater Horizon blowout killed 11 and unleashed the worst U.S. oil spill . Comment: