Chevron Files Fraud and RICO Case Against Lawyers and Consultants Behind Ecuador Litigation

[FreakinDJ]

Chevron Files Fraud and RICO Case Against Lawyers and Consultants Behind Ecuador Litigation

SAN RAMON, Calif., Feb. 1, 2011 � Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today filed a civil lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as well as other federal and state laws against the trial lawyers and consultants leading a fraudulent litigation and PR campaign against the company. Through the lawsuit, Chevron seeks a court declaration that any judgment against Chevron in the Ecuador lawsuit is the result of fraud and therefore unenforceable. Chevron is also seeking damages associated with the cost of defending the Ecuador litigation.

Chevron's RICO claim addresses pervasive misconduct relating to the named defendants' efforts to extort money from Chevron using the pendency of a lawsuit in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, directed and funded by American trial lawyers and their allies. Chevron's suit alleges that the named defendants, and certain non-party co-conspirators, have used the Ecuador lawsuit to threaten Chevron, mislead U.S. government officials, and harass and intimidate Chevron employees, all in order to extort a financial settlement from the company. Among those named in Chevron's complaint are New York City-based plaintiffs' lawyer Steven Donziger; his Ecuadorian colleagues Pablo Fajardo and Luis Yanza; their front organizations, the Amazon Defense Front and Selva Viva; and Stratus Consulting, a Boulder, Colo.-based consulting firm retained by the plaintiffs' lawyers to secretly prepare a damages report that was then presented as having been written by an allegedly independent, court-appointed expert.

"The Lago Agrio plaintiffs' lawyers' aim has been to extort a multi-billion dollar payment from Chevron through fabricated evidence and a campaign to incite public outrage. Chevron has no intention of giving these plaintiffs' lawyers the payday they seek. Rather, we intend to see the RICO defendants held accountable for their misconduct," stated R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron vice president and general counsel.

Documents, sworn deposition testimony, and outtakes from the movie Crude showing Donziger and his environmental consultants, including Stratus Consulting, plotting to secretly write the report of the supposedly "neutral" Ecuadorian court expert�Richard Stalin Cabrera Vega�who was appointed at the plaintiffs' lawyers' insistence to serve as the Lago Agrio court's sole, "global damages expert." The ghostwritten "Cabrera" report would serve as the basis for the plaintiffs' lawyers' demands for more than $27 billion in damages�a figure that later was inflated to more than $113 billion after evidence of the Cabrera fraud emerged.

http://www.chevron.com/chevron/pressreleases/article/02012011_chevronfilesfraudandricocaseagainstlawyersandconsultantsbehindecuadorlitigation.news

These supposed Lawyers were caught "Red-Handed" on video when Chevron subpoenaed the out-takes of the documentary they made. Not only were they caught on tape but these Idiots made the tape

[drm604]

1. Do you have a source for this other than Chevron?

It's kinda hard to judge how much of this is bull when it's written by the company bringing the RICO case.

[FreakinDJ]

3. The Plaintiff's whole case has been Fraudulent from the beginning

As admitted by the Lawyer financially backing the case

Donziger openly talked of using paid "armies" of Ecuadorians to harass the Ecuador judge, and is on record as having conversations with President Correa and executives from the state oil company called Petroecuador. Thus, contrary to the assertions of AmazonWatch, Ecuador has been a party in the lawsuit from day one.

Here's what Donziger said at one point:

"We have concluded that we need to do more, politically, to control the court, to pressure the court. We believe they make decisions based on who they fear the most, not based on what the laws should dictate. So, what we want to do is to take over the court with a massive protest that we haven't done since the first day of the trial, back in October of 2003. Remember all those people on the street? .... It's a huge effort, it costs money. Not that much actually, but, few thousand dollars, to get everyone in for a day. ... But it - it s — it's a critically important moment, because we want to send a message to the court that, 'don't fuck with us anymore - not now, and not - not later, and never."

Legal observers have called Donziger's actions "criminal."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=75118#ixzz1Dkj88VZS

Then of course there are also the "Out-Takes" from the documentary he financed that also proved conspiracy to "Defraud the Court"

[drm604]

2. Here are some articles presenting the other side of this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-tarbotton/in-chevron-rico-suit-agai_b_818814.html

Let's hope the upcoming verdict in a landmark case against Chevron � brought by an Ecuadorean community in the Amazon for decades of drinking water contamination � has the same victorious end. Unfortunately, right now all I see is a big, rich company and a lot of dirty legal tricks.

This week, Chevron slapped the Ecuadorean community and their lawyers with a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit. Congress enacted the RICO Act in 1970 in an effort to rein in the Mafia. That's right � Chevron is accusing a remote rainforest community in the Amazon of racketeering.

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/02/02/02greenwire-chevrons-rico-lawsuit-in-pollution-case-part-o-68778.html

Chevron Corp.'s racketeering suit filed yesterday against the legal team seeking damages for pollution in Ecuador is likely part of a wider strategy aimed at helping the oil giant reach a more favorable settlement, according to legal experts.

A judge in Ecuador is close to issuing a decision in the long-running case there, but Chevron has been seeking to undermine the plaintiffs in U.S. courts. The company could face billions of dollars in damages, potentially making the case the biggest environmental verdict of all time.

[FreakinDJ]

4. Misspelling Leads to Big Discovery in Chevron/Ecuador Case

Misspelling Leads to Big Discovery in Chevron/Ecuador Case

Note to expert witnesses: If someone else is going to file allegedly fraudulent reports in a lawsuit in your name, for heaven�s sake, make sure they spell your name right.

It might sound like common sense. But the misspelling of an expert�s name in a multibillion-dollar environmental lawsuit filed against Chevron is what tipped off Chevron�s lawyers to the fact that the reports may have been fudged, a fact that has now been conceded by the expert himself. Click here for the WSJ story, by Ben Casselman and Angel Gonzalez. Click here, here and here for earlier LB posts on the Chevron case.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/04/05/misspelling-leads-to-big-discovery-in-chevronecuador-case/

[FreakinDJ]

5. Film outtakes steal stage in Chevron Ecuador case

Film outtakes steal stage in Chevron Ecuador case

Outtakes from a documentary meant to help the cause of Ecuadorean farmers suing US energy giant Chevron Corp could become a liability for their case as a decision nears in the environmental damages lawsuit.

The 2009 documentary film "Crude" was made with the cooperation of New York-based lawyer Steven Donziger, who has scaled back his role in representing the plaintiffs after outtakes from the film showed him in Ecuador discussing tactics to pressure a local judge into ruling in their favor.

At one point he muses about paying protesters to surround the courthouse in the Amazon town of Lago Agrio where the case is being heard. "There are almost no rules here," he says at another point. "This is how the game is played. It's dirty."

Chevron says the outtakes show enough misconduct by the plaintiffs to render any judgment against it illegitimate.

The clips, which did not appear in the final version of the film, were subpoenaed as part of actions brought by Chevron in U.S. federal courts meant to block the plaintiffs from seizing assets should the Lago Agrio court decide against the company.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/film-outtakes-steal-stagechevron-ecuador-case_512360.html

[FreakinDJ]

6. Hidden Deal in Ecuador Case

Hidden Deal in Ecuador Case: Lawyers suing Chevron Strike Agreement That Spares Petroecuador From Litigation and Ensures Government Support

Ever wonder why the U.S. trial lawyers in the Ecuadorian Amazon litigation case against Chevron choose to sue Texaco, the minority partner in the consortium that launched the country�s energy industry, and not Petroecuador? After all, Petroecuador, the state owned oil company, was the majority partner and became 100% responsible for the oil production in the concession area in 1992.

According to Ecuadorian news sources, the plaintiffs� lawyers in the lawsuit against Chevron promised the Quito government they would not sue Ecuador�s state oil company Petroecuador over environmental damage in the Amazon.

Lawyer Cristobal Bonifaz, one of the architects of the lawsuit, has given written assurances to Ecuador�s government that Petroecuador would be spared a lawsuit if government officials threw their clout behind the plaintiffs.

In a 1997 interview appearing in the Ecuadorian newspaper Hoy, Bonifaz said, �There is no reason for the Government to worry because the plaintiffs and their lawyers have undertaken in legal documents to refrain from suing the Government if it is ultimately held to be jointly liable with Texaco for the environmental damage caused.�

http://theamazonpost.com/news/hidden-deal-in-ecuador-case-lawyers-suing-chevron-strike-agreement-that-spares-petroecuador-from-litigation-and-ensures-government-support

[drm604]

14. Maybe that's just the political reality in Ecuador.

Maybe the Ecuadorian government would block any suits against Petroecuador.

By the way. Amazonpost.com is another Chevron website so it's hard to say just how accurate the reporting is.

[FreakinDJ]

17. Here is a 3rd party legal opinion of the case

Interesting read

http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202478277402

[backscatter712]

7. I wish I can K&R individual posts. n/t

[FreakinDJ]

8. Which ones ?

[drm604]

9. Probably the one he replied to. n/t

[FreakinDJ]

11. Why are all these Philadelphia Lawyers supporting this kind of judicial behavior

With all the devastating information coming out concerning their conduct has anyone ever considered TEXACO not Chevron, had a less then 40% interest in the Company that actually did the polluting ?

Additionally the Ecuadorean Government, who owned the other remaining 60% continued dumping Toxic Sludge into the Rain Forest long after the Government had taken over the oil company 100%, "Signed off" on Texaco's Clean Up, and Chevron's purchase of Texaco

[bemildred]

10. SLAPP. nt

[fascisthunter]

12. lol.... from Chevron???? WOW!

[FreakinDJ]

13. Try reading - post #3 from SF Chronical

What was that line from Forrest Gump -

Stupid is as Stupid does ...

[drm604]

15. Oh Forest Gump!

That changes everything. You win! :sarcasm:

Ad hominen attacks on other posters (calling fascisthunter stupid) doesn't help your case.

[fascisthunter]

16. you calling me stupid?

[Puregonzo1188]

18. So is PR for Chevron your day job as well or just an internet hobby?