By Allan Lengel

The Justice Department appears to be sharpening it chops as it considers taking a pound of flesh out of oil giant BP, which has failed to put a cap on the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a team of federal prosecutors and investigators have taken the initial steps into looking into the possibility of criminal charges to see whether the company “skirted federal safety regulations and misled the U.S. government by saying it could quickly clean up an environmental accident.”

The paper reports that federal and state authorities have told BP not to destroy documents and internal documents.

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