BP to pay record criminal penalty in US spill settlement: source

BP will pay a record criminal penalty to resolve some of its liability for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in a deal to be announced by the U.S. Justice Department as soon as Thursday, a source told Reuters.

The source familiar with discussions did not disclose the actual amount of BP's payment but said it would be the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history. That record is currently held by Pfizer Inc, which paid a $1.3 billion criminal fine in 2009 for marketing fraud connected to its Bextra pain medicine.

(Reporting By David Ingram; Editing by Ken Wills)