U.S. Court of Appeals Affirms Contempt Rulings Against Disbarred Lawyer Behind Fraudulent Ecuadorian Lawsuit
March 04 2021 - 07:13PM
Business Wire
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today
affirmed multiple findings of civil contempt against disbarred
attorney Steven Donziger, effectively bringing to a close his
campaign to profit from the fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment he
procured in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations (“RICO”) Act.
As the Second Circuit today observed, it has been finally
adjudicated that Donziger “fraudulently procured the Ecuadorian
Judgment against Chevron through a pattern of racketeering
activity.” The court also noted “Donziger, among other things,
bribed the presiding judge to enter a judgment in his clients’
favor in exchange for $500,000 of the judgment’s proceeds; coerced
the court to appoint a hand-picked expert whom Donziger paid for
favorable testimony; and ghost-wrote the Ecuadorian Judgment.” In
2020, the New York Appellate Division, First Department, disbarred
Donziger for “egregious professional misconduct, namely, corruption
of a court expert and ghostwriting his report, obstruction of
justice, witness tampering, and judicial coercion.”
In today’s ruling, the Second Circuit agreed with “the district
court’s conclusions that Donziger acted in contempt of the
Injunction that resulted from the RICO Judgment in numerous ways,”
including Donziger’s failure to transfer his interest in the
fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment to Chevron, transferring a portion
of his interest in the judgment in exchange for personal services,
transferring and dissipating his assets in violation of his
obligations as a judgment debtor, and disregarding discovery
orders. The court noted that for the most part Donziger did “not
even attempt to challenge the district court’s findings of his
contumacious conduct.” The court reversed other aspects of the
district court’s rulings and remanded the case to the district
court for determination of the amount of fees Donziger owes
Chevron.
The decision rejects Donziger’s attempts to circumvent the RICO
judgment. The Second Circuit ruled that, going forward, Donziger
“can no longer sell any interests in the Ecuadorian Judgment for
any reason, and use the proceeds for his benefit . . . or profit
from such sales in any way whatsoever.” The court also upheld the
district court’s award of costs against Donziger, because “costs
were sought in a litigation in which Donziger has been found liable
for engaging in a pattern of racketeering involving corruption of a
foreign judiciary resulting in a multi-billion dollar judgment.”
The decision acknowledged “the district court’s thorough and fully
persuasive fact findings and legal conclusions, which [the Second
Circuit] ha[s] already affirmed in full, establishing Donziger’s
violations of law and ethics that added up to a pattern of
racketeering in violation of the RICO statute.”
U.S. courts are not alone in condemning the Ecuadorian
litigation against Chevron. In a separate proceeding, an
international tribunal in The Hague previously ruled that the
Ecuadorian judgment was procured by the plaintiffs’ legal team
through egregious fraud and corruption and is therefore
unenforceable under international law. The international tribunal
further rejected the environmental allegations against Chevron,
holding that the corrupt Ecuadorian judgment was based on
environmental claims that had been already settled and released by
the Republic of Ecuador years earlier following the successful
completion of an environmental remediation carried out under the
supervision and with the approval of the Republic of Ecuador.
All efforts to enforce the fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment
outside of Ecuador have been rejected. Today’s decision further
vindicates Chevron’s position in this long-running dispute.
Chevron Corporation is one of the world’s leading integrated
energy companies. Through its subsidiaries that conduct business
worldwide, the company is involved in virtually every facet of the
energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports
crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes
transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells
petrochemicals and additives; generates power; and develops and
deploys technologies that enhance business value in every aspect of
the company’s operations. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif.
More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.
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Contact: Sean Comey, +1-925-842-5509
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