lawyer who won against chevron prison

Did Chevron pay $30K to a lawyer with a conflict of interest?

 · Oct. 27, 2021 Steven Donziger, the environmental and human rights lawyer who won a $9.5 billion settlement against Chevron over oil dumped in Indigenous lands in the Amazon rainforest, surrendered...

Did Chevron pay a private lawyer to prosecute Donziger?

 · Steven Donziger, an environmental lawyer who won a $9.5 billion settlement against Chevron over oil pollution in Amazon rainforest Indigenous lands, has said his imprisonment will "backfire."

What did the judge say in the Chevron case?

 · An environmental lawyer who waged a years-long campaign against Chevron over pollution in Ecuador has been sentenced to six months in jail for violating a federal judge’s orders. NEW YORK -- An ...

Is the Chevron case bad news for climate activists?

 · Lawyer Steven Donziger, Who Sued Chevron over “Amazon Chernobyl,” Ordered to Prison After House Arrest. Story October 27, 2021 Watch Full …

Is Steven Donziger still in prison?

Steven Donziger, the U.S. human rights attorney sentenced in October to six months' incarceration for refusing to hand over privileged client information to fossil fuel giant Chevron, said Thursday that he was released from a federal prison in Connecticut to complete his sentence under house arrest.

Why did Chevron Sue Steven Donziger?

In 2011, Chevron filed a civil RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) suit against Donziger in New York City, accusing him of bribing an Ecuadorean judge, ghostwriting the damages judgment against it, and "fixing" scientific studies.

What was the verdict in the Chevron case?

(KGET) — A Kern County judge has granted a new trial in a lawsuit that resulted in a $73 million verdict against Chevron after finding a juror failed to disclose a past felony conviction that made him ineligible to serve.

Where is Steven Donziger?

Donziger turned himself in to a federal prison in Danbury, Conn., where he will serve his six-month sentence.

Did Chevron ever pay Ecuador?

In 2011, an Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron to pay $18.2 billion for "extensively polluting" the Lago Agrio region in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Ecuador's highest court upheld the verdict a year later. However, it reduced the amount of compensation to $9.5 billion. Chevron never complied with the ruling.

What is Steven Donziger in jail for?

Donziger, who was disbarred in New York last year, was found guilty of criminal contempt in July including for failing to turn over his computer and other electronic devices in connection with his long-running legal battle with Chevron Corp over oil pollution in Ecuador.

Did Donziger bribe judges?

Donziger's team had bribed the judge. Chevron argued that the Ecuadorean judgment should not be enforced because it was obtained through illegal tactics. So Chevron turned the tables on Mr. Donziger and brought a RICO case against him in the United States.

Did Donziger bribe Ecuador?

Instead of following the legal order, Chevron launched a case in New York, and in 2014, a federal judge, Lewis Kaplan, found Donziger and some of his Ecuadorian allies civilly liable for racketeering, bribery, and fraud.

Who won the Chevron settlement?

Steven Donziger, an environmental lawyer who won a $9.5 billion settlement against Chevron over oil pollution in Amazon rainforest Indigenous lands, has said his imprisonment will "backfire."

When is Steven Donziger's court appearance?

Steven Donziger arrives for a court appearance at Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Manhattan on May 10, 2021 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Why was Donziger disbarred?

Donziger was disbarred last year after being found guilty in July of criminal contempt of court for withholding the evidence in the legal fight with Chevron, which claims that he fabricated evidence in the 1990s to win a lawsuit he filed against the energy giant on behalf of Indigenous people in Ecuador.

Does Chevron have a comment on Donziger?

When contacted by Newsweek, Chevron said: "We have no comment regarding Mr. Donziger."

Why was Chevron in jail?

NEW YORK -- An environment al lawyer who waged a decadeslong campaign to hold Chevron accountable for oil pollution in the rainforests of Ecuador was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for violating a federal judge’s orders related to his fight against the energy giant.

How much did Chevron pay in Ecuador?

A court in Ecuador ordered Chevron to pay $9.5 billion, but that judgment was later invalidated in New York by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who ruled in 2014 that it was obtained through fraud, bribery, witness tampering and other misconduct.

Who was the prosecutor for the Donziger case?

Rita Glavin , the special prosecutor for the case, said, “Mr. Donziger knew what he was doing every step of the way. His conduct was not appropriate, and it was certainly not ethical.”

What did Kuby ask Preska to view the proceedings through?

In court, Kuby asked Preska to view the proceedings “through eyes of Ecuadorian villagers” harmed by oil drilling, but Preska said the contempt case was not about pollution in Ecuador but “only about Mr. Donziger's disobedience of Judge Kaplan’s orders.”

Who decided Steven Donziger's sentence?

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who decided the sentence after a criminal contempt trial earlier this year in New York, said Steven Donziger's commitment to his Ecuadorian clients and their cause did not justify his defiance of court orders.

Who was responsible for the pollution in Ecuador?

Chevron didn't dispute that the pollution happened, but says Ecuador's state oil company, Petroecuador, was primarily responsible for the damage and that Texaco was released from liability after a $40 million cleanup.

Who sued Texaco?

Donziger and other attorneys sued Texaco in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 farmers and Indigenous people from Ecuador's Amazon region over pollution and health impacts from oil production. Chevron became the defendant when it bought Texaco.

Who took on the Chevron case?

While the US attorney for the Southern District of New York refused to prosecute for the case, Chevron hired private law firm Seward & Kissel to take it on.

Who was responsible for the Ecuador oil spill?

According to Chevron, Donziger fabricated and withheld evidence to strengthen his case, with the oil major maintaining that Ecuador’s domestic oil company Petroecuador was responsible for the oil spill.

Who is Steven Donziger?

Environmental and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger surrendered himself to federal authorities on Wednesday this week, following a lengthy legal battle with oil major Chevron. Donziger, who won a $9.5bn settlement against the company in 1993 for oil waste dumped on Indigenous land in Ecuador, was found guilty of contempt of court in July this year.

Did Chevron pay the cleanup?

While the ruling at the time was a landmark decision as the largest sum won against an oil major, Chevron has not yet paid the money or enacted a cleanup , and a Manhattan judge ruled against the $9.5bn judging in 2014, saying it had been won through illicit means such as bribery and fraud.

How much did Chevron pay for the damages?

Chevron was ordered to pay $19 billion to remediate the damages but an appellate court reduced the judgement to $9.5 billion, which was affirmed by the Ecuadorian Supreme Court

What was Chevron's lawsuit against Donziger?

In 2011, at Kaplan’s suggestion, Chevron sued the Indigenous plaintiffs and their lawyers, including Donziger, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York under the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a law designed to target the mafia. Two weeks before trial in 2014, Chevron dropped its demand for $60 billion damages to prevent Donziger from receiving a jury trial.

What is the complaint against Judge Kaplan?

Formally filed by the National Lawyers Guild and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the complaint alleges that the “statements and actions of Judge Kaplan over the last ten years show him to have taken on the role of counsel for Chevron … rather than that of a judge adjudica ting a live controversy before him.” It added, “By these standards, he has violated his duty of impartiality under the canons of judicial conduct.” The complainants were concerned that the “persecution” of Donziger by Kaplan and Chevron “will have a chilling effect on the work of other human rights lawyers” and will act “as a warning of the consequences they will suffer” if “they try to hold major corporations accountable for their human rights violations.”

Why was Donziger detained?

The panel of five prominent jurists noted that the “extraordinary” criminal contempt charges that led to Donziger’s detention stemmed from “his refusal to surrender devices that would give Chevron near wholesale access to confidential, privileged and protected documents in a way that would have compromised his ability to provide legal assistance to the people he was defending, which would have posed a great risk to their lives.”

How long was Donziger in house arrest?

In a stunning opinion issued two weeks before Donziger’s sentencing, the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Donziger’s two-year house arrest constituted unlawful arbitrary detention and recommended his immediate release with compensation and reparations.

What did Preska order Donziger to do?

Preska ordered Donziger to surrender his passport and wear a GPS ankle bracelet and placed him on home confinement. After denying Donziger a jury trial, Preska convicted him of criminal contempt for “willfully” disobeying court orders and sentenced him to six months in prison, in addition to the two years he spent on house arrest. In the sentencing memo, Kuby and Garbus wrote that the 787 days of home confinement Donziger had already served was “more than eight times the longest sentence given to an attorney-contemnor for the same level of offense.”

Who prosecuted Donziger?

After Donziger appealed Kaplan’s finding of civil contempt, Kaplan drafted criminal contempt charges and asked the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to prosecute Donziger. When the government prosecutor declined, Kaplan appointed the private law firm of Seward & Kissel (with ties to Chevron) to prosecute the criminal contempt case against Donziger. Kaplan then appointed Preska to preside over the case, circumventing the court rules which require that assignments be random.

Who won the Chevron case?

Few news outlets covered the detention of Steven Donziger, who won a multibillion-dollar judgment in Ecuador against Chevron over the massive contamination in the Lago Agrio region and has been fighting on behalf of Indigenous people and farmers there for more than 25 years.

When did Donziger sue Chevron?

Despite Donziger’s current predicament, the case against Chevron in Ecuador was a spectacular victory. The twisted legal saga began in 1993, when Donziger and other attorneys filed a class-action suit in New York against Texaco on behalf of more than 30,000 farmers and Indigenous people in the Amazon over massive contamination from the company’s oil drilling there. Chevron, which bought Texaco in 2001, has insisted that Texaco cleaned up the area where it operated and that its former partner, the national oil company of Ecuador, was responsible for any remaining pollution.

What was Chevron's RICO suit?

That year, Chevron filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, suit against Donziger in New York City. Although the suit originally sought roughly $60 billion in damages, and civil trials involving monetary claims of more than $20 entitle a defendant to a jury, Chevron dropped the monetary claims two weeks before the trial.

Where was the Chernobyl case moved?

At Chevron’s request, the legal proceedings over the “ Amazon Chernobyl ” were moved to Ecuador, where the courts were “impartial and fair,” as the oil company’s attorneys wrote in a filing at the time.

When did the Texaco lawsuit start?

The twisted legal saga began in 1993, when Donziger and other attorneys filed a class-action suit in New York against Texaco on behalf of more than 30,000 farmers and Indigenous people in the Amazon over massive contamination from the company’s oil drilling there.

Who prosecuted Donziger?

In another legal peculiarity, in July, Kaplan appointed a private law firm to prosecute Donziger, after the Southern District of New York declined to do so — a move that is virtually unprecedented. And, as Donziger’s lawyer has pointed out, the firm Kaplan chose, Seward & Kissel, likely has ties to Chevron.

Who drafted the contempt charges against Donziger?

But even though the underlying case was civil, the federal court judge who has presided over the litigation between Chevron and Donziger since 2011, Lewis A. Kaplan, drafted criminal contempt charges against him.

Who won the Chevron case?

Steven Donziger, a lawyer who won a multi-billion dollar judgment against Chevron on behalf of Ecuadorian villagers, has been found guilty of six contempt charges. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Why was Donziger charged with contempt of court?

On Monday, US district judge Loretta Preska ruled that Donziger was guilty of six contempt charges brought against him for refusing to hand over evidence in a complex legal wrangle that has pitted the lawyer directly against Chevron.

Did Donziger bribe the judge?

Chevron has accused Donziger of bribing the judge in Ecuador and ghostwriting the final verdict, an accusation he strenuously denies. However, in 2016 a US judge, Lewis Kaplan, found that Donziger was involved in racketeering activity and granted Chevron seizure of the lawyer’s laptop and phone. When Donziger appealed against this, he was hit with the contempt charges and placed under house arrest.

Who is Steven Donziger?

Steven Donziger, the lawyer who has spearheaded a lengthy fight against Chevron over pollution in the Amazon rainforest, has been found guilty of criminal contempt by a US federal judge in the latest twist in his decades-long legal battle with the oil company.

Is Preska a victim of a conspiracy?

Preska’s judgment explicitly denies the lawyer has been the victim of a conspiracy, however. “Contrary to Mr Donziger’s assertion that his conviction was ‘pre-ordained’, the court finds him guilty on each count for one reason and one reason only: Mr Donziger did that with which he is charged. Period,” she wrote.

Who did Chevron pay for his health insurance?

In one of the stranger episodes in this saga, Chevron relocated Alberto Guerra, an Ecuadorian judge, and his family to the US, paid for his health insurance and a car while meeting with him more than 50 times before he provided testimony that Donziger discussed the bribe with him at a Quito restaurant.

When was Donziger touched by Chevron?

A well in Amazonian Peru. Donziger was first touched by his case with Chevron in 1993. Photograph: Rodrigo Buendía/AFP/Getty Images

Did Kaplan and Preska prove bias?

Christiana Ochoa, an expert in environmental law at Indiana University, said Kaplan and Preska’s connections do not themselves prove any sort of bias, and that Kaplan’s strongly worded judgment suggests “not great behavior” by Donziger. But she added that the severity of Donziger’s treatment is “odd” and that questions remain over the conflict of interest in his prosecution.

What is Kaplan's conduct?

Kaplan’s conduct, Donziger said, has been an “abomination, unethical and abusive. I never thought this could happen in the US.”. Other lawyers have voiced more measured concerns over Kaplan. Chevron has “captured” the judge, Donziger said, and now the oil company seems omnipresent in his fate.

Who was the judge that hit Donziger?

When he appealed this, claiming the devices contained sensitive client information, the judge, Lewis Kaplan, hit him with criminal contempt charges, upheld on appeal, that led to his house arrest.

Did Donziger bribe Chevron?

Donziger denied any wrongdoing and the Ecuador supreme court later affirmed the original ruling, but Chevron has refuse d to pay the $9.5bn in damages.

Who bought Texaco?

Despite lengthy attempts by Chevron, which bought Texaco, to block the case, the action ultimately went to trial and resulted in a historic judgement against the oil company.

Who was the judge for Chevron?

In 2014, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan found broadly in Chevron favor in a nearly 500-page ruling against Donziger that eventually led to his disbarment.

Who sued Chevron in 1993?

Steven Donziger was part of a team of lawyers who sued Chevron’s predecessor Texaco in the Southern District of New York in 1993, on behalf of indigenous and farmer residents alleging massive oil pollution to the Ecuadorean Amazon. He since became the most visible face of the litigation and Chevron’s nemesis.

How many counts of contempt did Judge Preska find Donziger guilty of?

Finding Donziger guilty of each of the six counts of criminal contempt, Judge Preska rejected the now-disbarred attorney’s claims that the fix was in from the start.

Who is the only lawyer to be prosecuted after complying with a civil order?

Donziger describes himself as the “only lawyer in U.S. history” to be prosecuted after complying with a civil order.

Is Donziger a fraud?

Since that time, Donziger has been the subject of a blistering counteroffensive by the oil giant. Chevron declared the ruling fraudulent and sued him under federal anti-racketeering law. The company accused Donziger of obtained the verdict through fraudulent and corrupt means. Donziger has maintained his innocence and depicts the allegations against him as a “well-financed corporate attack campaign” to “demonize” him.