A federal jury late Thursday rejected claims that Kevin Costner and his business partner duped fellow actor Stephen Baldwin and a friend out of millions of dollars from a BP contract for using oil cleanup devices in the aftermath of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill. 
 
 The panel deliberated for less than two hours before delivering the verdict in the lawsuit brought by Baldwin and his friend, Spyridon Contogouris Their lawyer had asked the eight-member jury to award the plaintiffs more than $17 million in damages. That's how much they estimate they would have received if they hadn't sold their shares in a company that marketed oil-separating centrifuges to BP before the oil giant made an $18 million deposit on a $52 million order for 32 of the devices. 
 
 The jury gave them nothing. 
 
 Costner, who smiled and shook his attorney's hand after the verdict, said he was grateful for the opportunity to clear his name. 
 
 "My name means more to me than money and that's why we didn't settle," he said shortly after the verdict. 
 
 Costner also praised the jury for "doing their best to understand everything" in a complex case. 
 
 "They were really smart, and it was my good luck that they saw the truth of the story," he said. 
 
 Contogouris and Baldwin sold their shares in Ocean Therapy Solutions for $1.4 million and $500,000, respectively. Baldwin testified he would have held out for much more if he had known BP had committed to ordering 32 centrifuges. 
 
 Attorneys for Costner and Smith said Baldwin and Contogouris knew that BP was preparing to order the centrifuges when they sold their shares and walked away from the company rather than gamble for a more lucrative payout if BP signed a binding contract. At the time they sold their shares, BP only had signed a non-binding letter of intent, the defendants' attorneys said. 
 
 Baldwin referred questions about the verdict to his attorney, James Cobb. 
 
 "We're disappointed. We thought we proved rather convincingly that these two guys, Mr. Costner and Mr. Smith, defrauded us," Cobb said. "The jury saw it a different way but we respect the jury's verdict." 
 
 Cobb also questioned whether celebrity was a factor in the outcome "because I believe we proved our case and because the bigger celebrity won." 
 
 Earlier Thursday, during the trial's closing arguments, Cobb told jurors they probably see the case as a "bunch of rich people fighting over money I'll never, ever see." Cobb, however, said his clients deserved to be compensated for being lied to by Costner and business partner Patrick Smith and defrauded out of their fair share of the BP money. 
 
 "I had no idea the spider's web of deception could be so pervasive and so hard to unravel," Cobb said. 
 
 Wayne Lee, Costner's attorney, argued his client's fame is the only reason he was sued. The plaintiffs were mistaken when they thought Costner would "roll over and give in" under the threat of a lawsuit, Lee said. 
 
 "This lawsuit never should have been brought," Lee said. "Mr. Costner never should have been a party to these proceedings." 
 
 Cobb said a series of text messages and emails show that Smith and Costner knew the BP deal was done before Baldwin and Contogouris sold their shares. 
 
 Jurors heard eight days of testimony before they began deliberating. Costner and Baldwin were ordered by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to attend each day of the trial, which they heeded. The judge thanked them at the end of the trial. 
 
 "I know that being here throughout the trial has been a great challenge for them," Feldman said. 
 
 Costner testified that he never saw Baldwin contribute anything to their company's efforts to persuade BP to use the centrifuges. Baldwin testified that no one asked him to invest any capital or lobby BP but said he used his celebrity to market and promote the centrifuges while he also worked on a documentary about America's worst offshore oil spill. 
 
 Costner had lost $20 million in an earlier effort to market the devices to the oil and gas industry, but Cobb said Costner and Smith each made $15 million off their investments in Ocean Therapy Solutions after the BP spill. 
 
 Jurors heard testimony that John Houghtaling, the company's CEO, had begged Baldwin and Contogouris not to sell their shares and promised them that a deal with BP was imminent. 
 
 "They didn't want to take a risk," Lee said. "(Contogouris) is the one who brought up the idea of selling. He set the price." 
 
 On Wednesday, a BP contractor testified that Baldwin had threatened to feed personal information about Costner to The New York Times if the two actors couldn't resolve their business dispute. Scott Smith, CEO of a company that sold about $1 million worth of oil-absorbing foam to BP after the spill, said he doesn't know if Baldwin followed through on the threat. 
 
 Cobb dismissed Smith's testimony as a diversionary tactic. 
 
 "They bring that to you, folks, because they've got nothing else," he said. "They don't have a legitimate defense, so let's throw some mud on the plaintiffs." 
 
 BP deployed a few of the centrifuges on a barge in June 2010. The company capped the well the following month, and it was permanently sealed in September 2010. ||||| In the New Orleans courtroom clash of Hollywood actors, Kevin Costner is the winner. 
 
 A federal jury this evening rejected a claim by the actor Stephen Baldwin and his friend, Spyridon Contogouris, that Costner and a business partner duped them by keeping them uninformed on a multimillion-dollar deal between Costner's company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, and the oil company BP. 
 
 Baldwin and Contogouris sold their shares in Ocean Therapy Solutions before it sold cleanup devices to BP for use in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. 
 
 The pair's lawyer had asked the jury to award them $17 million in damages, according to The Associated Press. But after less than two hours of deliberations, the jury awarded Baldwin and Contogouris nothing. 
 
 Costner smiled and shook his attorney's hand after the verdict, later saying, according to AP, "My name means more to me than money and that's why we didn't settle." 
 
 "Obviously I am disappointed with the jury's verdict," Baldwin said in a statement. "The facts in the case remain true and the opportunity to rectify the unjust activities of those involved is a right and freedom…" 
 
 Baldwin's attorney, James Cobb, said, "We're disappointed. We thought we proved rather convincingly that these two guys, Mr. Costner and [his business partner, Patrick] Smith, defrauded us. ... The jury saw it a different way but we respect the jury's verdict." 
 
 Baldwin, the youngest of the four acting Baldwin brothers, filed a suit in December 2010 against Costner and Smith, over profits from the technology that BP leased for the Deepwater Horizon spill. 
 
 Costner's device is a five-ton centrifuge designed to separate water from oil, spit out clean water and save the oil on ships, Smith said in his testimony. 
 
 The timeline of the case goes as far back as the production for Costner's film "Waterworld." Costner starred and co-directed the science-fiction film, which tanked at the box office when it was released in 1995. 
 
 In the early 1990s, Costner financed and oversaw the development of an oil-and-water-separation technology under the auspices of a corporation owned and managed by him called CINC Inc., an acronym for Costner in Nevada Corporation. 
 
 After the April 2010 oil spill, Costner made headlines again marketing his device and snagging a $52 million deal with BP for 32 of his centrifuges. 
 
 "It separates oil and water at incredibly high speeds under very difficult conditions," Costner told "Good Morning America's" Sam Champion in 2010. 
 
 The devices weren't used to cap the well but were designed to collect oil on the water's surface. 
 
 Baldwin has said he was bought out of Costner's company for $500,000 while Contogouris was bought out for $1.4 million. 
 
 BP reportedly never used the 32 devices it ordered from Costner's company, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. By September 2010, the well had been sealed with cement and a relief well. 
 
 Costner's memorable work includes starring in "The Bodyguard," "Dancing with Wolves" and "Field of Dreams." Baldwin, the younger brother of actor Alec Baldwin, is best known for "Bio-Dome" and playing Barney Rubble in "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas." 
 
 The Associated Press and ABC News' Barbara Garcia, Matt Gutman and Sheila Marikar contributed to this report.
– It was aquaboy vs. Stephen Baldwin, and aquaboy won. A federal jury last evening tossed out a claim by Baldwin and a friend that Costner and a business partner duped them by keeping them in the dark about a multimillion-dollar deal between Costner's company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, and the BP oil company. Baldwin and Spyridon Contogouris sold their shares in Costner's company shortly before its profitable deal selling cleanup devices to BP to use in the Gulf of Mexico spill. Baldwins' lawsuit demanded $17 million in damages. After just two hours deliberating, the jury came back with their award: $0. "My name means more to me than money and that's why we didn't settle," a smiling Costner told AP after the decision. He credited a "very smart" jury with "seeing the truth" of a complicated case. "Obviously, I'm disappointed," said Stephen Baldwin, the youngest of the four actor Baldwin brothers. Baldwin's attorney said he thought "we proved rather convincingly that these two guys defrauded us. The jury saw it a different way." The device Costner's company sold to BP is an innovative five-ton centrifuge he developed that's designed to separate water from oil, producing clean water and saving the oil. He sold 32 of the centrifuges to BP for $52 million. Baldwin sold his share of Ocean Therapy Solutions before the deal for $500,000, and Contogouris let his go for $1.4 million, reports ABC News.