Chevron's 'Friendly NY Judge' Rules In Its Favor: Chernobyl In The Amazon Dirty Tricks

In a court ruling Amazon Watch and legal experts say involved dirty tricks by Chevron’s covert operatives, the U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York today ruled a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador was the product of fraud and racketeering, finding it unenforceable, 

“This ruling is a resounding victory for Chevron and our stockholders,” Chevron said in a written statement Tuesday in response to the ruling. “It confirms that the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron is a fraud and the product of a criminal enterprise.”

“#Ecuador communities have long known that #Chevron‘s friendly judge in NY would get it wrong,” tweeted Amazon Watch Tuesday morning after the ruling.

Borja was caught on tape talking about his dirty tricks operation –– including tampering with evidence, offering bribes, and attempts at entrapping a judge –– on behalf of his ‘bosses’ at Chevron. A friend-turned-whistleblower, Santiago Escobar, made recordings of Borja talking about how the company ‘cooked evidence’ in the trial. In the recordings, Borja is heard explaining that if Chevron didn’t take care of him, he’d ’immediately go to the other side… I have correspondence that talks about things you cannot even imagine, dude…’ - Daily Journal

According to Chevron, Steven Donziger and his associates “can now be held accountable and will not be allowed to profit from their illegal acts. Any court that respects the rule of law will find the Lago Agrio judgment to be illegitimate and unenforceable.”

Chevron says it presented “overwhelming evidence of fraud” during the civil RICO trial that concluded in Nov. 2013. Evidence of Ecuadorian plaintiffs’ and their agents’ fraud presented by Chevron includes, according to its statement Tues. morning:

• A former Ecuadorian judge admitted his role in orchestrating the fraudulent judgment against Chevron in exchange for a half-million-dollar bribe from Donziger and his associates.
• Stratus Consulting, the lead environmental consultant to the Ecuadorian plaintiffs’ lawyers, provided sworn declarations (here and here), highlighting its and Donziger’s role in ghostwriting the reports of a purportedly “independent” Ecuadorian court expert and the lack of scientific merit to the plaintiffs’ environmental claims.
• Another plaintiffs’ lawyers’ environmental consultants, Dr. Charles Calmbacher, testified that plaintiffs falsified environmental evidence in Ecuador.
• Litigation funder Burford Capital provided sworn testimony outlining the firm’s knowledge of the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ misconduct, testifying the proceeding is irredeemably tainted by fraud.

“While drilling for oil in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest region, Texaco, that merged with Chevron in 2001, operated without concern for the environment or local residents,” says Amazon Watch on its website. “The company deliberately dumped billions of gallons of toxic wastewater into rivers and streams, spilled millions of gallons of crude oil, and abandoned hazardous waste in hundreds of unlined open-air pits littered throughout the region.

Widespread devastation of the Amazon rainforest ecosystem and thus, its local indigenous people has resulted in what’s been one of the worst environmental and human catastrophes in history. Since Chevron’s “development” in the Amazon, local indigenous and campesino communities suffer an epidemic of cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and other ailments. 

“It’s considered to be one of the largest environmental disasters in the world on record,” said Karen Hinton, spokesperson for the Amazon Defense Coalition.

Over 30,000 Ecuadorians have fought for justice with an international campaign and a landmark class action lawsuit in Ecuadorian courts. 

“Chevron has never carried out a meaningful clean up of the mess it is responsible for, and its infrastructure continues to poison the communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon,” says Amazon Watch.

Despite Chevron’s repeated efforts to sabotage the trial, locals determined to hold Chevron accountable, are still demanding clean-up costs and compensation for the devastation the company caused,” says Amazon Watch.

An Ecuadorian court ruled Chevron must pay 9.5 billion in damages. 

“Though it’s certainly a large amount of money for you and me, this is something that could certainly be absorbed by Chevron, just as BP has been able to absorb the 20 billion or more cost of practically destroying the gulf of Mexico,” said Brad Johnson, the climate editor at Thinkprogress.com.

However, absorbing is what one New York judge chose not to do by defending Chevron, and blocking the Ecuadorian court’s ruling from being enforced in the US and globally. The judge cited harm to Chevron’s business as the reason for his decision.

“That’s just nonsense. That’s really what it is,” remarked Johnson. “Why would a New York judge meddle in a legal battle Chevron initially insisted take place in Ecuador?

“Obviously it’s a US company… they are capable of very severe pressure against those that wish in any way to harm their interest,” said author/lawyer Eva Golinger. “And of course they have friends in a lot of high places.” 

“Ecuador’s tribal members certainly do not,” said Greg Palast, investigative journalist and filmmaker, saying Chevron’s been calling all the shots in the case. They said don’t try the case in the United States, so they sent it down to Ecuador. Then, they said, we don’t like the case in Ecuador because of a bad ruling, so now try it in the United States.” 

Chevron’s ‘Paid Witnesses and Known Liars’

Since 2011, evidence has existed that a Chevron dirty tricks operative has worked since 2009 to disrupt the trial. 

Diego Borja, self-proclaimed ‘dirty tricks’ operative for Chevron in Ecuador is scheduled to appear in a San Francisco courtroom today to answer questions about his attempts to entrap a judge overseeing the monumental trial against the oil company.

Court documents filed in connection with the case seemed to confirm Chevron was paying Borja big bucks to keep quiet about his activities aimed at disrupting the trial over Chevron’s contamination in Ecuador. California legal newspaper the Daily Journal reported:

Since August 2009, Chevron paid Borja each month: a stipend of at least $5,000; more than $1,600 for rent and at least $700 in automobile payments. The company also apparently paid more than $45,000 in taxes for Borja and it has continued to pay the Berkeley law firm Arguedas, Cassman & Headley LLP to defend Borja in proceedings related to the litigation. It is unclear from the documents if Borja also received a monthly stipend of $10,000, which would bring the total to nearly $340,000. 

At least some payments were facilitated by Jones Day, one of the firms representing Chevron in litigation stemming from the Ecuadorean case. Information about the payments was revealed as the plaintiffs battle against a New York federal judge’s order barring them from enforcing the $8.6 billion judgment they won against Chevron last month, which has grown to $9.5 billion to include an award to the plaintiffs’ team.

Borja was caught on tape talking about his dirty tricks operation –– including tampering with evidence, offering bribes, and attempts at entrapping a judge –– on behalf of his “bosses” at Chevron.

A friend-turned-whistleblower named Santiago Escobar made recordings of Borja talking about how the company “cooked evidence” in the trial. In the recordings, Borja is heard explaining that if Chevron didn’t take care of him, he would “immediately go to the other side… I have correspondence that talks about things you cannot even imagine, dude…

I can’t talk about them here, dude, because I’m afraid, but they’re things that can make the [plaintiffs] win this just like that.”

Deborah Dupré’s Related Articles

What You’ve Not Been Told About Chevron’s Pa. Blown-Out Fracking Wells, ‘It’s Very Serious’ New Video

Pa. Gas Big Blowout Coverup: Missing Man Employed By Same Failed Macondo BOP Company