BP Plc said it agreed to pay $175 million to settle claims by U.S. investors that its managers lied about the size of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to prop up its stock price, leading to massive losses when the true scope of the disaster was revealed. The investors had sought as much as $2.5 billion, and their case was the last major overhang from the 2010 spill for BP. The settlement averts a trial that was set for July in Houston federal court. The settlement announcement Thursday came shortly after a ruling by U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison to narrow the evidence that could have been presented to a jury. The decision, which would have benefited BP in the trial, limited the management statements that investors could claim affected the stock price. BP shares plunged by more than 40 percent in the weeks after the April […]