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"Kevin Costner has cleared his name.\r\nAfter eight days of testimony, a federal jury ruled Thursday that Costner doesn&amp;apos;t owe Stephen Baldwin any money, The Associated Press reports. Baldwin, 46, filed a lawsuit against Costner, 57, in December 2010, claiming the actor cheated him and his friend, Spyridon C. Contogouris, out of their shares of an $18 million deal for BP to buy oil-separating devices after the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.\r\n\r\nBaldwin and Contogouris were seeking more than $17 million in damages, but after deliberating for less than two hours, the jury decided to give them nothing.\r\n&amp;quot;My name means more to me than money and that&amp;apos;s why we didn&amp;apos;t settle,&amp;quot; Costner said after the verdict. He thanked the jury and said, &amp;quot;They were really smart, and it was my good luck that they saw the truth of the story.\r\n\r\nCostner&amp;apos;s oil-separating device was developed by his company Ocean Therapy Solutions, and Baldwin said he and Syridon didn&amp;apos;t know about the BP deal when they agreed to sell their shares.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;We&amp;apos;re disappointed. We thought we proved rather convincingly that these two guys, Mr. Costner and Mr. Smith, defrauded us,&amp;quot; Baldwin&amp;apos;s attorney, James Cobb, said. &amp;quot;The jury saw it a different way but we respect the jury&amp;apos;s verdict.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/kevin-costner-wins-lawsuit-against-stephen-baldwin-2012156>