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Steven Donziger

April 23, 2023

Steven Robert Donziger (born September 14, 1961)[1] is an American attorney known for his legal battles with Chevron, particularly Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc. and other cases in which he represented over 30,000 farmers and indigenous people who suffered environmental damage and health problems caused by oil drilling in the Lago Agrio oil field of Ecuador. The Ecuadorian court awarded the plaintiffs $9.5 billion ($11.5 billion in 2021 dollars[2]) in damages, which led Chevron to withdraw its assets from Ecuador and launch legal action against Donziger in the US. In 2011, Chevron filed a RICO (anti-corruption) suit against Donziger in New York City. The case was heard by US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who determined that the ruling of the Ecuadorian court could not be enforced in the US because it was procured by fraud, bribery, and racketeering activities. As a result of this case, Donziger was disbarred from practicing law in New York in 2018.

Steven Donziger
Donziger in 2021
Born (1961-09-14) September 14, 1961 (age 61)
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Education
OccupationHuman rights lawyer

Donziger was placed under house arrest in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of criminal contempt of court, which arose during his appeal against Kaplan's RICO decision, when he refused to turn over electronic devices he owned to Chevron's forensics experts.[3][4] In July 2021, US District Judge Loretta Preska found him guilty, and Donziger was sentenced to 6 months in jail in October 2021.[3] While Donziger was under house arrest in 2020, twenty-nine Nobel laureates described the actions taken by Chevron against him as "judicial harassment." Human rights campaigners called Chevron's actions an example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP).[5] In April 2021, six members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus demanded that the Department of Justice review Donziger's case.[6] In September 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the pre-trial detention imposed on Donziger was illegal and called for his release.[7] Having spent 45 days in prison and a combined total of 993 days under house arrest, Donziger was released on April 25, 2022.[8][9]

In June 2022, a federal appeals court affirmed Donziger's criminal contempt conviction.[10] In March 2023 the Supreme Court declined to hear further appeals.[11]

Early life and education

Donziger's mother, a social activist, raised him in Jacksonville, Florida,[12][13] and he attended The Bolles School.[13] She took him to picket in support of César Chávez's Salad Bowl strike.[14] Donziger's grandfather was Aaron E. Koota, a Brooklyn district attorney and later Justice of the New York State Supreme Court.[15] Donziger studied history at American University where he also wrote for his college newspaper. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991.[16]

Career

After graduating from college, Donziger worked as a journalist. His first job was in the United Press International bureau in Managua, after which he freelanced in Nicaragua for The Fort Lauderdale News, the Toronto Star, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.[16] He also founded Project Due Process which offered legal services to Cubans who arrived in the US in the Mariel boatlift.[17]

After working as a journalist for three years, Donziger went to Harvard Law School.[12][16] He graduated from law school in 1991 and worked as a public defender in Washington, D.C. In 1991, he visited Iraq as part of a mission that produced a report on the impact of bombing on civilians during the first Gulf War. The report was adopted by the United Nations.[16] Donziger was the editor of The Real War on Crime: The Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission, published in 1996 by Harper Perennial. The book described the role of media in increasing fear of crime, racial injustice in the criminal justice system and argues against mandatory minimum sentences.[18]

Class action lawsuit against Chevron

See also: Lago Agrio oil field § Litigation; and Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc.
 
Oil pollution in Lago Agrio, November 2007

Starting in the 1970s, Texaco conducted oil drilling operations in the Amazon in partnership with Ecuador's national oil company, Petroecuador.[12][19] In the 1990s Texaco came to a $40 million agreement with Ecuador to clean up some of the resultant pollution, and was released from liability.[20]

Donziger was asked by Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía (FDA) to help win compensation for the pollution and health effects caused by oil drilling in the Lago Agrio oil field, a region that became known as the "Amazon Chernobyl".[17] He visited Ecuador in 1993, where he says he saw "what honestly looked like an apocalyptic disaster," including children walking barefoot down oil-covered roads and jungle lakes filled with oil.[12] In 1993, after he visited Ecuador, Donziger and other attorneys brought a class-action lawsuit in New York against Texaco on behalf of over 30,000 farmers and Indigenous people from the Amazon region. Since the plaintiffs had no money, Donziger, with FDA support, funded the case by selling shares to investors, offering a small part of any eventual settlement.[17] The lawyers chose to file in New York because at the time Texaco's headquarters were in New York. The lawsuit charged that Texaco's oil drilling in the Amazon had resulted in massive contamination. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001 and argued that Texaco had cleaned up its area of operations and that its partner, Petroecuador, was responsible for any remaining pollution.[12][19][16] Chevron requested that the case be tried in Ecuador and, in 2002, the US court dismissed the plaintiffs case based on forum non conveniens and ruled that Ecuador had jurisdiction. The US court exacted a promise from Chevron that it would accept the decision of the Ecuadorian courts.[21][22]

When the case moved to Ecuador, Donziger conducted a public relations campaign to inform Ecuadoreans about the pollution of the Amazon. He said that "the indigenous people would never get a fair trial in Ecuador if they did not illuminate what had happened to them and get public support". Donziger appeared in the 2009 documentary film Crude which explored a two-year period in the case.[16][12] A provincial Ecuadorean court found Chevron guilty in 2011 and awarded the plaintiffs $18 billion in damages. The decision was affirmed by three appellate courts including Ecuador's highest court, the National Court of Justice, although the damages were reduced to $9.5 billion.[21][19][16]

To avoid paying the damages awarded by the court in Ecuador, Chevron moved its assets out of the country,[19] leading the plaintiffs to seek enforcement actions in Canada, Brazil, and Argentina for confiscation of Chevron's assets.[12] An editorial in The Wall Street Journal stated that appeals courts in Argentina and Brazil's Superior Court of Justice rejected Donziger's petitions to have the Ecuadorean judgment enforced.[23] In 2017, a Canadian court held that the Ecuadorean plaintiffs could not be awarded assets of Chevron's Canadian subsidiary as the subsidiary was legally distinct from its US parent. In 2019, the Ecuadorean plaintiffs ended their Canadian lawsuit against Chevron.[24]

In 2018, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that the $9.5 billion judgment in Ecuador was marked by fraud and corruption and "should not be recognised or enforced by the courts of other States."[25][26][27] The amount Ecuador must pay to Chevron to compensate for damages is yet to be determined. The award found that Ecuador violated its obligations under international treaties, investment agreements and international law. The Court of Arbitration's findings of fraudulent activities included that the evidence placed before the Court is "the most thorough documentary, video, and testimonial proof of fraud ever put before an arbitral tribunal", that the plaintiffs championed by the film actually were engaged in blackmail and bribery of Ecuadorian judges. Their efforts triggered an order to appoint an "expert" friendly to the plaintiffs, that Ecuadorian government prosecutors "actively cooperated" with the plaintiffs, that the plaintiffs bribed the "experts" and ghostwrote their report and that the plaintiffs paid a retired judge to draft the acting judge's orders—and that the same judge solicited bribes that Chevron refused to pay.[27]

Counter-litigation against Donziger

Chevron stated that a scene in the documentary film Crude presented at the Sundance Film Festival showed an environmental scientist present at a legal strategy meeting of plaintiffs' lawyers; the same scientist was later appointed by the Ecuadorian court as an ostensibly impartial expert to write a report on technical issues, but the scene was cut from the theatrical release. Chevron lawyers wanted to know what other potentially compromising scenes were left out by the film's director, Joe Berlinger. On May 6, 2010, federal judge Lewis Kaplan sided with a petition submitted by Chevron and ruled that Berlinger turn over more than 600 hours of original footage created during the film's production. Chevron had sought to subpoena the footage as part of the ongoing lawsuit discussed in the film. Berlinger's legal team has maintained that the footage is protected by reporters' privilege and appealed the court's decision.[28]

In his appeal, Berlinger stated that he was a highly awarded and respected independent filmmaker, that he was independent of Donziger, and argued that he had in fact gone to great lengths to make Crude a balanced portrayal.[29] Berlinger acknowledged that he had "tweaked" some scenes at Donziger's request.[30] The scene showing the environmental scientist at the legal strategy session had been cut from the theatrical release (but not the online version for Netflix) after one of the plaintiff lawyers objected to Berlinger that showing the scene was "so serious we could lose everything". The US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed the scope slightly (Berlinger had to turn over 500 hours of outtakes, rather than 600), but in 2011 upheld the lower court ruling against Berlinger, Judge Pierre Leval writing for the court: "Those who do not retain independence as to what they will publish but are subservient to the objectives of others who have a stake in what will be published have either a weaker privilege or none at all."[31]

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.[32][19][23] Chevron's civil suit initially sought $60 billion in damages which would have required a trial by jury. Chevron removed the request for damages two weeks prior to trial, allowing the case to be tried by judge alone. Chevron stated that it wanted to focus "the RICO case on obtaining injunctive relief against the furtherance of Donziger's extortionate scheme against the company". US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan was assigned as the judge.[19]

In 2014, Donziger estimated that the legal fees Chevron was paying to appeal had already exceeded $2 billion.[33] In 2021, Chevron estimated its legal fees at nearly $1 billion.[20]

Kaplan's 2014 ruling in the RICO case

In 2014, Kaplan ruled that the judgment in Ecuador was invalid because Donziger had achieved it through offenses against legal ethics, including racketeering, extortion, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, judicial bribery, coercion, witness tampering, and arranging for expert's reports to be ghostwritten.[19][23] Kaplan said the process in Ecuador was "not fair or impartial and did not comport with the requirements of due process" and was "not entitled to recognition".[21] As a result of Kaplan's ruling, Chevron could not be forced to pay the Ecuadorian award in the United States.[34] In subsequent defenses of the ruling, Kaplan referred to the Ecuadorians involved in the class action suit as "so-called plaintiffs".[35] Kaplan described Donziger's conduct as "criminal" in his 2014 ruling, but the US Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York declined to prosecute him.[32]

Donziger said that because Judge Kaplan failed to disclose that he held shares in three mutual funds which in turn held shares in Chevron at the time of the ruling, he should have recused himself. Professor Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics at New York University Law School, stated: "Kaplan’s ownership of shares in mutual funds that have shares of Chevron is not a ‘financial interest’ in Chevron. Mutual funds are, along with government securities, viewed as the surest way for a judge to invest without a risk of recusal."[36]

The case relied in large part on the testimony of Alberto Guerra, a former Ecuadorean judge whom Chevron had moved to the United States from Ecuador in 2013 for safety reasons. Chevron paid for immigration lawyers for Guerra and his family and provided him with a monthly salary of $12,000 for housing and living expenses.[37] In the RICO trial, Guerra alleged that Donziger had arranged for him to ghostwrite the verdict that was delivered against Chevron in Ecuador. Guerra stated that the judge who heard the case signed the verdict which Guerra had prepared and the two shared payment of $500,000 from the plaintiffs, led by Donziger. In Kaplan's conclusion to the RICO case, he highlighted this as primary evidence for the racketeering charge. In his judgment, Kaplan wrote that "Guerra on many occasions has acted deceitfully and broken the law ... but that does not necessarily mean that it should be disregarded wholesale". He found that the "evidence leads to one conclusion: Guerra told the truth regarding the bribe and the essential fact as to who wrote the Judgment."[37] In 2015, Guerra testified to an international tribunal that he had lied and changed his story multiple times in the RICO trial. Guerra admitted that there was no evidence supporting the allegation that Donziger bribed him or paid him for delivering a ghostwritten judgment, and that large parts of Guerra's testimony in the RICO case were either exaggerated or untrue.[37] Kaplan also ordered Donziger to pay Chevron $800,000 on the RICO claim and barred Donziger from selling shares in the Ecuadorian judgment to investors.[38]

In 2016, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals declined to consider Guerra's admissions and unanimously upheld Kaplan's ruling.[19][23]

In March 2021, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard an appeal against prior court orders made by Kaplan against Donziger in a civil contempt action brought by Chevron. The appeals court ruled that Kaplan's decision, which prevented Donziger from financing his court case by selling shares in any future award, was unenforceable. The appeals court also vacated Chevron's request for $4.1 million in damages and a $660,000 sanction against Donziger. Other aspects of Kaplan's original civil contempt ruling were upheld.[39][40]

Disbarment in New York and District of Columbia

Donziger was suspended from practicing law in New York in July 2018, based on rulings by US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in the Chevron case. The state bar association appointed an independent referee to investigate. The referee recommended Donziger's reinstatement in February 2020, saying "The extent of [Donziger’s] pursuit by Chevron is so extravagant, and at this point so unnecessary and punitive, [that] while not a factor in my recommendation, [it] is nonetheless background to it".[34] A state appeals court ruled in August 2020 that the referee had been "too dismissive" of the misconduct that Kaplan had alleged, and disbarred Donziger in New York. Martin Garbus, Donziger's lawyer, said the decision deprives Ecuadorians represented by Donziger of their main advocate and singles Donziger out because he "threatens Chevron and the fossil fuel industry".[41] Based on the New York action, he was disbarred in the District of Columbia on July 21, 2022.[42]

Criminal contempt charge

 
Senior District Judge Loretta Preska

As part of the appeal process after the initial ruling, Kaplan ordered Donziger to submit his computer, phones, and other electronic devices to a neutral forensic expert to search for his assets and other evidence relating to the Ecuador judgment.[4] Donziger refused, arguing that doing so would violate the attorney–client privilege of his clients, and appealed the order on constitutional grounds.[21] While Donziger's appeal against the order was pending, Kaplan charged him with six counts of criminal contempt of court. The contempt charges allege that Donziger failed to comply with Kaplan's orders to submit his electronic devices and passport and to drop attempts to collect on the award against Chevron.[16][32][43] In a move described as "virtually unprecedented" by The Intercept, Kaplan appointed a private law firm, Seward & Kissel, to prosecute Donziger after the Southern District Court of New York declined to do so. In Jacobin magazine, David Sirota and Walker Bragman wrote that Seward & Kissel has represented Chevron directly as recently as 2018.[44] Chris Hedges wrote that neither Kaplan nor Seward & Kissel disclosed that Chevron had been a client.[16]

Rather than using the standard random assignment process for choosing a judge to preside over Donziger's trial for criminal contempt, Kaplan chose senior District Judge Loretta Preska. Preska had served on the advisory board of the Federalist Society, to which Chevron (along with other large American companies like Verizon, Google, Facebook, Time Warner, and others) had contributed at least $50,000 in 2012.[45][46] In August 2019, Preska sentenced Donziger to home detention while awaiting trial. He was required to wear a GPS-equipped ankle bracelet. Preska ordered Donziger to post a bail bond of $800,000, which is a record for a misdemeanor case in the US. In May 2020, Preska ruled that Donziger's case would not be heard by a jury, which Donziger had requested.[19][47][48][32] On May 18, 2020, Preska refused a request from Donziger's lawyer to allow Donziger to leave his apartment for three hours a day because she regarded him as a flight risk.[49] The US District court disqualified two of Donziger's attorneys from appearing for him in the contempt trial. In August 2020, after two other attorneys were unable to appear in the trial, Preska ordered Andrew Frisch, Donziger's former lead defense attorney, to represent him. Martin Garbus, who also represents Donziger but was unable to attend the trial, said a trial with Frisch would not be "a constitutionally protected case" and that "Donziger is being forced to go to trial with a lawyer who doesn't want to be in the case, who doesn't get along with Donziger, and claims that before Donziger goes ahead with the trial he should pay him additional moneys".[47]

The contempt case was scheduled to begin in September 2020.[19][47] Citing coronavirus concerns, Donziger's fourth lawyer, Lauren Regan, requested in late October that the civil trial be rescheduled for a third time. The trial was rescheduled to begin on November 9,[50] then delayed until January 2021 for Donziger to have legal representation.[51] In the face of objections to holding the trial virtually, Preska rescheduled the trial to take place in person on May 10, 2021.[52] Donziger asked Preska to allow his criminal contempt trial to be livestreamed via Zoom because of restrictions on public attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic and significant public interest in the case. Preska rejected Donziger's request and Donziger then asked that proceedings be televised.[53] This request was also denied.[54]

On July 26, 2021, after almost two years of home detention, Donziger was found guilty by Judge Preska on all six contempt charges.[55][56] Judge Preska wrote that the contempt case had nothing to do with any responsibility Chevron might have for pollution in Ecuador's rainforest.[56][3] On October 1, 2021, Judge Preska sentenced Donziger to the maximum sentence of six months in prison. Preska said that Donziger had not shown contrition and "It seems that only the proverbial two-by-four between the eyes will instill in him any respect for the law".[34] Donziger appealed the sentence, which he described as "another example ... of the punitive nature of what’s happening. It’s almost unheard of for someone convicted of a misdemeanor in the United States not to be let out pending his or her appeal".[3][57] A federal appellate court rejected Donziger's request for bail while his appeal was pending. He reported to prison on October 27, 2021.[58][59]

On December 9, 2021,[60] Donziger was released from prison to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest per a pandemic-related early release program.[61]

In January 2022, The Nation wrote that it had obtained documents showing that Chevron, its law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and the private prosecutor appointed by Kaplan to prosecute Donziger, had collaborated in conducting the criminal contempt case. At least 32 meetings and numerous phone calls were held between the private prosecutor and lawyers from Gibson Dunn. Gibson Dunn said the time it spent consulting with the prosecution team was donated and not billed to Chevron. In discussing the cost of the criminal contempt prosecution against him, Donziger said "The total cost of my prosecution—for a misdemeanor—will be somewhere between $5 million and $10 million. A normal misdemeanor is like a $5,000 prosecution".[62]

On February 4, 2022, a petition was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, asking the court to review a 2020 New York state court ruling that faulted Donziger's "egregious" misconduct in winning the judgment against Chevron.[63]

On February 10, 2022, Donziger was forced to report to a halfway house after his ankle bracelet triggered an incident report, according to attorney Ron Kuby.[64]

Reactions

In 2014, Joe Nocera wrote that Notre Dame law professor and human rights attorney Doug Cassel stated that "Donziger disserved his clients and his cause” by his conduct during the Ecuadorian trial.[65] Nocera stated that an attorney who followed the rules might have been able to get a verdict enforceable in the United States, and an attorney with a realistic view of the case might have been able to get a settlement (and compensation) in a shorter timeframe than the 20 years it took Donziger to win his case in Ecuador (with his clients still having received no compensation).[65] Nocera also said that several reporters who have followed the case for years have come to see Donziger as "a rogue lawyer willing to do virtually anything to win."[65]

In 2018, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal claimed that "Donziger's attempted looting of Chevron for spurious environmental crimes in Ecuador ranks among the biggest legal scams in history". The editorial called Donziger's disbarment "a step toward reining in Mr. Donziger's marauding".[23]

Donziger's contempt charge and house arrest have been harshly condemned by some legal advocates. Lawyer's Rights Watch Canada points out that Donziger has been under house arrest for longer than the six-month maximum sentence that contempt of court carries.[48] Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson criticized Chevron and Kaplan, stating that the corruption and bribery charges were a "means to protect the oil company from having to answer for its degradation of the Amazon".[66] In 2020, a group of twenty-nine Nobel laureates condemned "judicial harassment" by Chevron and urged the release of Donziger.[5] Human rights campaigners described the treatment of Donziger as an example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), which are used to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.[5][35]

The European Parliament, requested that the Congressional Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties investigate Chevron's treatment of Donziger as "not consistent with what has traditionally been the strong support in the United States for the rule of law generally and for protection for human rights defenders in particular".[17][67]

In a March 2020 article in The Nation, James North wrote that "[t]he mainstream press has largely ignored the legal attacks against Donziger, but Chevron's counteroffensive could endanger human rights and environmental work around the world".[35] In an August 2020 article entitled "How Corporate Tyranny Works", Chris Hedges detailed the measures taken by Chevron to pressure mainstream media outlets, including Fox News, GQ, and The New York Times, to drop stories about the Chevron and Donziger litigation.[16] In an October 2021 article entitled "The Anonymous Executioners of the Corporate State", Hedges described the prosecution of Donziger as a "show trial" similar to those carried out by "tyrannies of the past", and compared his case to that of Julian Assange, saying "they are designed to send a message. All who defy corporate power and the national security state will be lynched."[45]

In July 2020, Simon Taylor, director of Global Witness said that the treatment of Donziger "is intended to intimidate the rest of us, to chill the work of other environmental and corporate accountability advocates".[17]

In February 2021, a law student boycott against Seward & Kissel began, involving around 300 law students from around 50 law schools. In a letter, the students state that the firm has a conflict of interest in prosecuting Donziger in the criminal contempt case, saying: "We, the undersigned law students, refuse to consider employment with the firm until it withdraws from its conflicted position as Chevron's private prosecutor".[68][69] The student group Law Students for Climate Accountability launched a similar boycott in April against Gibson Dunn, a law firm that has also lobbied to keep Donziger confined alongside other climate-related campaigns, including litigation and advocacy in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline and Koch Industries.[70]

On April 27, 2021, Democrats Jim McGovern, Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jamie Raskin wrote a letter calling for oversight by Attorney General Merrick Garland out of "deep concerns that the unprecedented nature of Mr. Donziger's pending legal case is tied to his previous work against Chevron."[6] This was later followed by a letter addressed to Roslynn Mauskopf from Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.[71]

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting has been critical of the US media's coverage of Donziger's trial and house arrest. In July 2021, it wrote that the New York Times had not published an article about Donziger since 2014 and that articles in the US corporate media largely favored Chevron. It quoted an interview given by Donziger to Breakthrough News in which he said, "No matter what you think of me or Judge Kaplan, isn't it newsworthy that an American lawyer is under house arrest for two years on a misdemeanor?"[72]

In October 2021, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention wrote that Donziger's two years of house arrest was arbitrary, that his detainment was without legal basis, and that he had been denied a fair trial.[73] The Working Group criticized Kaplan and Preska for showing "a staggering lack of objectivity and impartiality".[34][73] Amnesty International asked US authorities "to promptly implement the decision by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention" and release Donziger from detention.[74]

Writing in The Guardian newspaper in February 2022, Erin Brockovich contrasts her experiences to those of Donziger.[75]

Personal life

Donziger is married and has a son.[17] The family lives in a two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.[17][49]

References

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  2. ^ Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved January 1, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the Measuring Worth series.
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  4. ^ a b "Order to Show Cause Why Defendant Steven Donziger Should Not Be Held in Criminal Contempt" (PDF). Courthouse News. (PDF) from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022. The Neutral Forensic Expert shall take possession of Danziger's Devices [...] At no time shall Chevron's Forensic Expert have access to the original Devices
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  31. ^ Isler, Tom (March 29, 2014). "What 'Chevron Corp. v. Donziger' Continues To Get Wrong about Documentary Filmmaking". Documentaries and the Law Blog. University of Pennsylvania Law School. from the original on July 26, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  32. ^ a b c d Klasfeld, Adam (August 13, 2019). "When Feds Demur, Judge Charges Ecuador Crusader Himself". Courthouse News. from the original on September 4, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
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  34. ^ a b c d North, James (October 4, 2021). "Is Chevron's Vendetta Against Steven Donziger Finally Backfiring?". The Nation. from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  35. ^ a b c North, James (March 31, 2020). "How a Human Rights Lawyer Went From Hero to House Arrest". The Nation. from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  36. ^ Barrett, Paul (October 31, 2014). "Anti-Chevron Activists Accuse N.Y. Federal Judge of Financial Conflict of Interest". Bloomberg News. from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021. Anti-Chevron, rainforest and native peoples activists ... and Donziger himself—have accused a federal judge in New York of allowing his personal investments to taint a March ruling that portrayed a multibillion-dollar pollution suit against the oil company as a massive shakedown. ... Because it's based on a fundamental distortion of the rules governing judicial financial disclosures and conflicts of interest, the ethics charge isn't likely to be taken seriously. Moreover, the lawyer representing Donziger in a separate appeal of Kaplan's verdict declines to endorse or associate himself with his client's risky attack on Kaplan's ethics. ... Donziger says in the release. "His hostility toward me and my highly vulnerable clients was palpable. It is thus hard for me to see his failure to disclose these investments as a mere one-time ethical lapse." ... Professor Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics at New York University Law School, says Donziger misconstrued the rules on disclosure and recusal. "Under the federal recusal statute and the Code of Conduct counterpart, a federal judge must recuse himself if he has a 'financial interest' in a party," Gillers explains via email. Ownership of a mutual fund that, in turn, holds securities in a party to a lawsuit is not considered a "financial interest," Gillers says.
  37. ^ a b c Hershaw, Eva (October 26, 2015). "Chevron's Star Witness Admits to Lying in the Amazon Pollution Case". Vice. from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  38. ^ Weiss, Debra Cassens (July 24, 2019). "Suspended lawyer ordered to pay $3.4M in attorney fees to Chevron as contempt sanction". ABA Journal. from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  39. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (March 4, 2021). "Lawyer and Chevron critic Donziger's civil contempt finding mostly upheld; fees and sanctions vacated". Reuters. from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  40. ^ Earls, Maya (March 4, 2021). "Chevron's $660,000 Sanction Award Against Donziger Nixed on Appeal". Bloomberg Law. from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  41. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (August 14, 2020). "Lawyer who took on Chevron in Ecuador is disbarred in New York". Reuters. from the original on August 22, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  42. ^ "IN RE STEVEN R. DONZIGER 2016 DDN 288 A Suspended Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Bar Registration No. 431577 BEFORE: Easterly and AliKhan, Associate Judges, and Washington, Senior Judge" (PDF). Dccourts.gov. Retrieved July 29, 2022. ORDERED that Steven R. Donziger is hereby disbarred from the practice of law in the District of Columbia.
  43. ^ "Order to Show Cause Why Defendant Steven Donziger Should Not Be Held in Criminal Contempt" (PDF). Courthouse News. (PDF) from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  44. ^ Sirota, David; Bragman, Walker (July 14, 2020). "The US Government Gave Big Oil the Power to Prosecute Its Biggest Critic". Jacobin magazine. from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  45. ^ a b Hedges, Chris (October 6, 2021). "The Anonymous Executioners of the Corporate State". Scheerpost. from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  46. ^ Andrade, Sofia (August 12, 2021). "This Attorney Took On Chevron. Then Chevron-Linked Judges and Private Prosecutors Had Him Locked Up". Slate Magazine. from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  47. ^ a b c "Judge drags Donziger's ex-atty back in to court to represent him at conduct trial". Thomson Reuters. Reuters. August 28, 2020. from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  48. ^ a b "USA: Allegations of judicial harassment and arbitrary detention of lawyer Steven Donziger". Lawyers Rights Watch Canada. July 29, 2020. from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
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  50. ^ Malo, Sebastien (October 29, 2020). "Embattled attorney Donziger's trial postponed, again". Westlaw Today. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  51. ^ Malo, Sebastien (November 9, 2020). "Donziger contempt trial pushed to 2021 in order to get 'live body'". Reuters. from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  52. ^ Grant, Jason (January 20, 2021). "Donziger's Criminal Trial Is Postponed Once Again, as His Motion to Dismiss Counts Is Denied". New York Law Journal. from the original on April 27, 2021. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  53. ^ Scharf, Rachel (April 16, 2021). "Donziger Wants His Trial Televised, Citing Chauvin Case". Law360. from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  54. ^ "Donziger's Bid For Cameras In Trial Thwarted Again - Law360". Law360. April 21, 2021. from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
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  60. ^ @SDonziger (December 9, 2021). "BREAKING: Danbury prison officials released me this morning to serve the rest of my sentence (136 days) at home" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  61. ^ "Environmental Lawyer Steven Donziger Released to Serve Rest of Prison Sentence from Home". Democracy Now!. December 10, 2021. from the original on December 10, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
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  63. ^ Malo, Sebastien (February 4, 2022). "Donziger asks SCOTUS to take up disbarment case". Reuters. from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  64. ^ BREAKING: Steven Donziger REMOVED From Home, Forced Into Halfway House-Lawyer Talks to Jordan on YouTube
  65. ^ a b c Nocera, Joe (September 23, 2014). "Behind the Chevron Case". The New York Times. from the original on November 4, 2021. But there is another, darker narrative about Donziger, told most recently by Paul Barrett, a Bloomberg Businessweek writer whose book about the Chevron-Ecuador case, "Law of the Jungle," is being published this week. ... Barrett isn't the only one to come to view Donziger as a rogue lawyer willing to do virtually anything to win. So has Roger Parloff, Fortune magazine's legal writer, who has covered the case for years. And so has the highly respected human right lawyer — and Notre Dame law professor — Doug Cassel. ... What's worse is that the Ecuadorians who live in the affected areas have still not seen any help, 20 years later. A lawyer with a more realistic view of the case might have been able to get a reasonable settlement early on. A lawyer who had played by the rules might have even won a judgment that would now be enforceable in an American court. "Donziger disserved his clients and his cause" by the way he conducted himself during the trial, Cassel now says.
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  67. ^ Weyler, Rex (July 31, 2020). "Opinion: This lawyer took on Chevron and won the largest human rights and environmental court judgment in history. Then he lost his freedom". National Observer. from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  68. ^ "Law firm's alleged conflict in environmental case sparks student boycott". The New York City Daily Post. February 26, 2021. from the original on March 5, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  69. ^ Grant, Jason (February 26, 2021). "Students From 52 Law Schools Boycott Seward & Kissel's Recruitment Over Alleged Conflict in Donziger Prosecution". New York Law Journal. from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
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  72. ^ Baratta, James (July 2, 2021). "NYT Ignores Two-Year House Arrest of Lawyer Who Took on Big Oil". Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. from the original on July 3, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  73. ^ a b "Opinion No. 24/2021 concerning Steven Donziger (United States of America) A/HRC/WGAD/2021/24" (PDF). United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. October 1, 2021. (PDF) from the original on February 23, 2023. The deprivation of liberty of Steven Donziger, being in contravention of articles 2, 3, 7, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2 (1), 9, 14 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is arbitrary and falls within categories I, III and V.
  74. ^ Helmore, Edward (October 1, 2021). "Lawyer Steven Donziger gets six-month sentence for contempt in Chevron battle". the Guardian. from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  75. ^ Brockovich, Erin (February 8, 2022). "What if, instead of a movie, I got flung in jail? This lawyer who fought Chevron was". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. ISSN 0261-3077. from the original on February 8, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2022.

Further reading

  • Donziger, Steve (August 16, 2021). "The Persecution of Steve Donziger: Roger Waters and Steve Donziger" (Interview). Interviewed by Randy Credico & Roger Waters. from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021 – via YouTube.

External links

  • Donziger defense
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Steven Donziger.

April 23, 2023
steven, donziger, steven, robert, donziger, born, september, 1961, american, attorney, known, legal, battles, with, chevron, particularly, aguinda, texaco, other, cases, which, represented, over, farmers, indigenous, people, suffered, environmental, damage, he. Steven Robert Donziger born September 14 1961 1 is an American attorney known for his legal battles with Chevron particularly Aguinda v Texaco Inc and other cases in which he represented over 30 000 farmers and indigenous people who suffered environmental damage and health problems caused by oil drilling in the Lago Agrio oil field of Ecuador The Ecuadorian court awarded the plaintiffs 9 5 billion 11 5 billion in 2021 dollars 2 in damages which led Chevron to withdraw its assets from Ecuador and launch legal action against Donziger in the US In 2011 Chevron filed a RICO anti corruption suit against Donziger in New York City The case was heard by US District Judge Lewis A Kaplan who determined that the ruling of the Ecuadorian court could not be enforced in the US because it was procured by fraud bribery and racketeering activities As a result of this case Donziger was disbarred from practicing law in New York in 2018 Steven DonzigerDonziger in 2021Born 1961 09 14 September 14 1961 age 61 Jacksonville Florida U S EducationAmerican University BA Harvard University JD OccupationHuman rights lawyerDonziger was placed under house arrest in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of criminal contempt of court which arose during his appeal against Kaplan s RICO decision when he refused to turn over electronic devices he owned to Chevron s forensics experts 3 4 In July 2021 US District Judge Loretta Preska found him guilty and Donziger was sentenced to 6 months in jail in October 2021 3 While Donziger was under house arrest in 2020 twenty nine Nobel laureates described the actions taken by Chevron against him as judicial harassment Human rights campaigners called Chevron s actions an example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation SLAPP 5 In April 2021 six members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus demanded that the Department of Justice review Donziger s case 6 In September 2021 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the pre trial detention imposed on Donziger was illegal and called for his release 7 Having spent 45 days in prison and a combined total of 993 days under house arrest Donziger was released on April 25 2022 8 9 In June 2022 a federal appeals court affirmed Donziger s criminal contempt conviction 10 In March 2023 the Supreme Court declined to hear further appeals 11 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2 1 Class action lawsuit against Chevron 3 Counter litigation against Donziger 3 1 Kaplan s 2014 ruling in the RICO case 3 2 Disbarment in New York and District of Columbia 3 3 Criminal contempt charge 3 4 Reactions 4 Personal life 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksEarly life and education EditDonziger s mother a social activist raised him in Jacksonville Florida 12 13 and he attended The Bolles School 13 She took him to picket in support of Cesar Chavez s Salad Bowl strike 14 Donziger s grandfather was Aaron E Koota a Brooklyn district attorney and later Justice of the New York State Supreme Court 15 Donziger studied history at American University where he also wrote for his college newspaper He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991 16 Career EditAfter graduating from college Donziger worked as a journalist His first job was in the United Press International bureau in Managua after which he freelanced in Nicaragua for The Fort Lauderdale News the Toronto Star and The Atlanta Journal Constitution 16 He also founded Project Due Process which offered legal services to Cubans who arrived in the US in the Mariel boatlift 17 After working as a journalist for three years Donziger went to Harvard Law School 12 16 He graduated from law school in 1991 and worked as a public defender in Washington D C In 1991 he visited Iraq as part of a mission that produced a report on the impact of bombing on civilians during the first Gulf War The report was adopted by the United Nations 16 Donziger was the editor of The Real War on Crime The Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission published in 1996 by Harper Perennial The book described the role of media in increasing fear of crime racial injustice in the criminal justice system and argues against mandatory minimum sentences 18 Class action lawsuit against Chevron Edit See also Lago Agrio oil field Litigation and Aguinda v Texaco Inc Oil pollution in Lago Agrio November 2007 Starting in the 1970s Texaco conducted oil drilling operations in the Amazon in partnership with Ecuador s national oil company Petroecuador 12 19 In the 1990s Texaco came to a 40 million agreement with Ecuador to clean up some of the resultant pollution and was released from liability 20 Donziger was asked by Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia FDA to help win compensation for the pollution and health effects caused by oil drilling in the Lago Agrio oil field a region that became known as the Amazon Chernobyl 17 He visited Ecuador in 1993 where he says he saw what honestly looked like an apocalyptic disaster including children walking barefoot down oil covered roads and jungle lakes filled with oil 12 In 1993 after he visited Ecuador Donziger and other attorneys brought a class action lawsuit in New York against Texaco on behalf of over 30 000 farmers and Indigenous people from the Amazon region Since the plaintiffs had no money Donziger with FDA support funded the case by selling shares to investors offering a small part of any eventual settlement 17 The lawyers chose to file in New York because at the time Texaco s headquarters were in New York The lawsuit charged that Texaco s oil drilling in the Amazon had resulted in massive contamination Chevron bought Texaco in 2001 and argued that Texaco had cleaned up its area of operations and that its partner Petroecuador was responsible for any remaining pollution 12 19 16 Chevron requested that the case be tried in Ecuador and in 2002 the US court dismissed the plaintiffs case based on forum non conveniens and ruled that Ecuador had jurisdiction The US court exacted a promise from Chevron that it would accept the decision of the Ecuadorian courts 21 22 When the case moved to Ecuador Donziger conducted a public relations campaign to inform Ecuadoreans about the pollution of the Amazon He said that the indigenous people would never get a fair trial in Ecuador if they did not illuminate what had happened to them and get public support Donziger appeared in the 2009 documentary film Crude which explored a two year period in the case 16 12 A provincial Ecuadorean court found Chevron guilty in 2011 and awarded the plaintiffs 18 billion in damages The decision was affirmed by three appellate courts including Ecuador s highest court the National Court of Justice although the damages were reduced to 9 5 billion 21 19 16 To avoid paying the damages awarded by the court in Ecuador Chevron moved its assets out of the country 19 leading the plaintiffs to seek enforcement actions in Canada Brazil and Argentina for confiscation of Chevron s assets 12 An editorial in The Wall Street Journal stated that appeals courts in Argentina and Brazil s Superior Court of Justice rejected Donziger s petitions to have the Ecuadorean judgment enforced 23 In 2017 a Canadian court held that the Ecuadorean plaintiffs could not be awarded assets of Chevron s Canadian subsidiary as the subsidiary was legally distinct from its US parent In 2019 the Ecuadorean plaintiffs ended their Canadian lawsuit against Chevron 24 In 2018 the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that the 9 5 billion judgment in Ecuador was marked by fraud and corruption and should not be recognised or enforced by the courts of other States 25 26 27 The amount Ecuador must pay to Chevron to compensate for damages is yet to be determined The award found that Ecuador violated its obligations under international treaties investment agreements and international law The Court of Arbitration s findings of fraudulent activities included that the evidence placed before the Court is the most thorough documentary video and testimonial proof of fraud ever put before an arbitral tribunal that the plaintiffs championed by the film actually were engaged in blackmail and bribery of Ecuadorian judges Their efforts triggered an order to appoint an expert friendly to the plaintiffs that Ecuadorian government prosecutors actively cooperated with the plaintiffs that the plaintiffs bribed the experts and ghostwrote their report and that the plaintiffs paid a retired judge to draft the acting judge s orders and that the same judge solicited bribes that Chevron refused to pay 27 Counter litigation against Donziger EditChevron stated that a scene in the documentary film Crude presented at the Sundance Film Festival showed an environmental scientist present at a legal strategy meeting of plaintiffs lawyers the same scientist was later appointed by the Ecuadorian court as an ostensibly impartial expert to write a report on technical issues but the scene was cut from the theatrical release Chevron lawyers wanted to know what other potentially compromising scenes were left out by the film s director Joe Berlinger On May 6 2010 federal judge Lewis Kaplan sided with a petition submitted by Chevron and ruled that Berlinger turn over more than 600 hours of original footage created during the film s production Chevron had sought to subpoena the footage as part of the ongoing lawsuit discussed in the film Berlinger s legal team has maintained that the footage is protected by reporters privilege and appealed the court s decision 28 In his appeal Berlinger stated that he was a highly awarded and respected independent filmmaker that he was independent of Donziger and argued that he had in fact gone to great lengths to make Crude a balanced portrayal 29 Berlinger acknowledged that he had tweaked some scenes at Donziger s request 30 The scene showing the environmental scientist at the legal strategy session had been cut from the theatrical release but not the online version for Netflix after one of the plaintiff lawyers objected to Berlinger that showing the scene was so serious we could lose everything The US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed the scope slightly Berlinger had to turn over 500 hours of outtakes rather than 600 but in 2011 upheld the lower court ruling against Berlinger Judge Pierre Leval writing for the court Those who do not retain independence as to what they will publish but are subservient to the objectives of others who have a stake in what will be published have either a weaker privilege or none at all 31 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 32 19 23 Chevron s civil suit initially sought 60 billion in damages which would have required a trial by jury Chevron removed the request for damages two weeks prior to trial allowing the case to be tried by judge alone Chevron stated that it wanted to focus the RICO case on obtaining injunctive relief against the furtherance of Donziger s extortionate scheme against the company US District Judge Lewis A Kaplan was assigned as the judge 19 In 2014 Donziger estimated that the legal fees Chevron was paying to appeal had already exceeded 2 billion 33 In 2021 Chevron estimated its legal fees at nearly 1 billion 20 Kaplan s 2014 ruling in the RICO case Edit In 2014 Kaplan ruled that the judgment in Ecuador was invalid because Donziger had achieved it through offenses against legal ethics including racketeering extortion wire fraud money laundering obstruction of justice judicial bribery coercion witness tampering and arranging for expert s reports to be ghostwritten 19 23 Kaplan said the process in Ecuador was not fair or impartial and did not comport with the requirements of due process and was not entitled to recognition 21 As a result of Kaplan s ruling Chevron could not be forced to pay the Ecuadorian award in the United States 34 In subsequent defenses of the ruling Kaplan referred to the Ecuadorians involved in the class action suit as so called plaintiffs 35 Kaplan described Donziger s conduct as criminal in his 2014 ruling but the US Attorney s office for the Southern District of New York declined to prosecute him 32 Donziger said that because Judge Kaplan failed to disclose that he held shares in three mutual funds which in turn held shares in Chevron at the time of the ruling he should have recused himself Professor Stephen Gillers an expert on legal ethics at New York University Law School stated Kaplan s ownership of shares in mutual funds that have shares of Chevron is not a financial interest in Chevron Mutual funds are along with government securities viewed as the surest way for a judge to invest without a risk of recusal 36 The case relied in large part on the testimony of Alberto Guerra a former Ecuadorean judge whom Chevron had moved to the United States from Ecuador in 2013 for safety reasons Chevron paid for immigration lawyers for Guerra and his family and provided him with a monthly salary of 12 000 for housing and living expenses 37 In the RICO trial Guerra alleged that Donziger had arranged for him to ghostwrite the verdict that was delivered against Chevron in Ecuador Guerra stated that the judge who heard the case signed the verdict which Guerra had prepared and the two shared payment of 500 000 from the plaintiffs led by Donziger In Kaplan s conclusion to the RICO case he highlighted this as primary evidence for the racketeering charge In his judgment Kaplan wrote that Guerra on many occasions has acted deceitfully and broken the law but that does not necessarily mean that it should be disregarded wholesale He found that the evidence leads to one conclusion Guerra told the truth regarding the bribe and the essential fact as to who wrote the Judgment 37 In 2015 Guerra testified to an international tribunal that he had lied and changed his story multiple times in the RICO trial Guerra admitted that there was no evidence supporting the allegation that Donziger bribed him or paid him for delivering a ghostwritten judgment and that large parts of Guerra s testimony in the RICO case were either exaggerated or untrue 37 Kaplan also ordered Donziger to pay Chevron 800 000 on the RICO claim and barred Donziger from selling shares in the Ecuadorian judgment to investors 38 In 2016 the Second Circuit Court of Appeals declined to consider Guerra s admissions and unanimously upheld Kaplan s ruling 19 23 In March 2021 the Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard an appeal against prior court orders made by Kaplan against Donziger in a civil contempt action brought by Chevron The appeals court ruled that Kaplan s decision which prevented Donziger from financing his court case by selling shares in any future award was unenforceable The appeals court also vacated Chevron s request for 4 1 million in damages and a 660 000 sanction against Donziger Other aspects of Kaplan s original civil contempt ruling were upheld 39 40 Disbarment in New York and District of Columbia Edit Donziger was suspended from practicing law in New York in July 2018 based on rulings by US District Judge Lewis A Kaplan in the Chevron case The state bar association appointed an independent referee to investigate The referee recommended Donziger s reinstatement in February 2020 saying The extent of Donziger s pursuit by Chevron is so extravagant and at this point so unnecessary and punitive that while not a factor in my recommendation it is nonetheless background to it 34 A state appeals court ruled in August 2020 that the referee had been too dismissive of the misconduct that Kaplan had alleged and disbarred Donziger in New York Martin Garbus Donziger s lawyer said the decision deprives Ecuadorians represented by Donziger of their main advocate and singles Donziger out because he threatens Chevron and the fossil fuel industry 41 Based on the New York action he was disbarred in the District of Columbia on July 21 2022 42 Criminal contempt charge Edit Senior District Judge Loretta Preska As part of the appeal process after the initial ruling Kaplan ordered Donziger to submit his computer phones and other electronic devices to a neutral forensic expert to search for his assets and other evidence relating to the Ecuador judgment 4 Donziger refused arguing that doing so would violate the attorney client privilege of his clients and appealed the order on constitutional grounds 21 While Donziger s appeal against the order was pending Kaplan charged him with six counts of criminal contempt of court The contempt charges allege that Donziger failed to comply with Kaplan s orders to submit his electronic devices and passport and to drop attempts to collect on the award against Chevron 16 32 43 In a move described as virtually unprecedented by The Intercept Kaplan appointed a private law firm Seward amp Kissel to prosecute Donziger after the Southern District Court of New York declined to do so In Jacobin magazine David Sirota and Walker Bragman wrote that Seward amp Kissel has represented Chevron directly as recently as 2018 44 Chris Hedges wrote that neither Kaplan nor Seward amp Kissel disclosed that Chevron had been a client 16 Rather than using the standard random assignment process for choosing a judge to preside over Donziger s trial for criminal contempt Kaplan chose senior District Judge Loretta Preska Preska had served on the advisory board of the Federalist Society to which Chevron along with other large American companies like Verizon Google Facebook Time Warner and others had contributed at least 50 000 in 2012 45 46 In August 2019 Preska sentenced Donziger to home detention while awaiting trial He was required to wear a GPS equipped ankle bracelet Preska ordered Donziger to post a bail bond of 800 000 which is a record for a misdemeanor case in the US In May 2020 Preska ruled that Donziger s case would not be heard by a jury which Donziger had requested 19 47 48 32 On May 18 2020 Preska refused a request from Donziger s lawyer to allow Donziger to leave his apartment for three hours a day because she regarded him as a flight risk 49 The US District court disqualified two of Donziger s attorneys from appearing for him in the contempt trial In August 2020 after two other attorneys were unable to appear in the trial Preska ordered Andrew Frisch Donziger s former lead defense attorney to represent him Martin Garbus who also represents Donziger but was unable to attend the trial said a trial with Frisch would not be a constitutionally protected case and that Donziger is being forced to go to trial with a lawyer who doesn t want to be in the case who doesn t get along with Donziger and claims that before Donziger goes ahead with the trial he should pay him additional moneys 47 The contempt case was scheduled to begin in September 2020 19 47 Citing coronavirus concerns Donziger s fourth lawyer Lauren Regan requested in late October that the civil trial be rescheduled for a third time The trial was rescheduled to begin on November 9 50 then delayed until January 2021 for Donziger to have legal representation 51 In the face of objections to holding the trial virtually Preska rescheduled the trial to take place in person on May 10 2021 52 Donziger asked Preska to allow his criminal contempt trial to be livestreamed via Zoom because of restrictions on public attendance due to the COVID 19 pandemic and significant public interest in the case Preska rejected Donziger s request and Donziger then asked that proceedings be televised 53 This request was also denied 54 On July 26 2021 after almost two years of home detention Donziger was found guilty by Judge Preska on all six contempt charges 55 56 Judge Preska wrote that the contempt case had nothing to do with any responsibility Chevron might have for pollution in Ecuador s rainforest 56 3 On October 1 2021 Judge Preska sentenced Donziger to the maximum sentence of six months in prison Preska said that Donziger had not shown contrition and It seems that only the proverbial two by four between the eyes will instill in him any respect for the law 34 Donziger appealed the sentence which he described as another example of the punitive nature of what s happening It s almost unheard of for someone convicted of a misdemeanor in the United States not to be let out pending his or her appeal 3 57 A federal appellate court rejected Donziger s request for bail while his appeal was pending He reported to prison on October 27 2021 58 59 On December 9 2021 60 Donziger was released from prison to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest per a pandemic related early release program 61 In January 2022 The Nation wrote that it had obtained documents showing that Chevron its law firm Gibson Dunn amp Crutcher and the private prosecutor appointed by Kaplan to prosecute Donziger had collaborated in conducting the criminal contempt case At least 32 meetings and numerous phone calls were held between the private prosecutor and lawyers from Gibson Dunn Gibson Dunn said the time it spent consulting with the prosecution team was donated and not billed to Chevron In discussing the cost of the criminal contempt prosecution against him Donziger said The total cost of my prosecution for a misdemeanor will be somewhere between 5 million and 10 million A normal misdemeanor is like a 5 000 prosecution 62 On February 4 2022 a petition was filed with the U S Supreme Court by Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson asking the court to review a 2020 New York state court ruling that faulted Donziger s egregious misconduct in winning the judgment against Chevron 63 On February 10 2022 Donziger was forced to report to a halfway house after his ankle bracelet triggered an incident report according to attorney Ron Kuby 64 Reactions Edit In 2014 Joe Nocera wrote that Notre Dame law professor and human rights attorney Doug Cassel stated that Donziger disserved his clients and his cause by his conduct during the Ecuadorian trial 65 Nocera stated that an attorney who followed the rules might have been able to get a verdict enforceable in the United States and an attorney with a realistic view of the case might have been able to get a settlement and compensation in a shorter timeframe than the 20 years it took Donziger to win his case in Ecuador with his clients still having received no compensation 65 Nocera also said that several reporters who have followed the case for years have come to see Donziger as a rogue lawyer willing to do virtually anything to win 65 In 2018 an editorial in The Wall Street Journal claimed that Donziger s attempted looting of Chevron for spurious environmental crimes in Ecuador ranks among the biggest legal scams in history The editorial called Donziger s disbarment a step toward reining in Mr Donziger s marauding 23 Donziger s contempt charge and house arrest have been harshly condemned by some legal advocates Lawyer s Rights Watch Canada points out that Donziger has been under house arrest for longer than the six month maximum sentence that contempt of court carries 48 Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson criticized Chevron and Kaplan stating that the corruption and bribery charges were a means to protect the oil company from having to answer for its degradation of the Amazon 66 In 2020 a group of twenty nine Nobel laureates condemned judicial harassment by Chevron and urged the release of Donziger 5 Human rights campaigners described the treatment of Donziger as an example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation SLAPP which are used to censor intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition 5 35 The European Parliament requested that the Congressional Subcommittee on the Constitution Civil Rights and Civil Liberties investigate Chevron s treatment of Donziger as not consistent with what has traditionally been the strong support in the United States for the rule of law generally and for protection for human rights defenders in particular 17 67 In a March 2020 article in The Nation James North wrote that t he mainstream press has largely ignored the legal attacks against Donziger but Chevron s counteroffensive could endanger human rights and environmental work around the world 35 In an August 2020 article entitled How Corporate Tyranny Works Chris Hedges detailed the measures taken by Chevron to pressure mainstream media outlets including Fox News GQ and The New York Times to drop stories about the Chevron and Donziger litigation 16 In an October 2021 article entitled The Anonymous Executioners of the Corporate State Hedges described the prosecution of Donziger as a show trial similar to those carried out by tyrannies of the past and compared his case to that of Julian Assange saying they are designed to send a message All who defy corporate power and the national security state will be lynched 45 In July 2020 Simon Taylor director of Global Witness said that the treatment of Donziger is intended to intimidate the rest of us to chill the work of other environmental and corporate accountability advocates 17 In February 2021 a law student boycott against Seward amp Kissel began involving around 300 law students from around 50 law schools In a letter the students state that the firm has a conflict of interest in prosecuting Donziger in the criminal contempt case saying We the undersigned law students refuse to consider employment with the firm until it withdraws from its conflicted position as Chevron s private prosecutor 68 69 The student group Law Students for Climate Accountability launched a similar boycott in April against Gibson Dunn a law firm that has also lobbied to keep Donziger confined alongside other climate related campaigns including litigation and advocacy in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline and Koch Industries 70 On April 27 2021 Democrats Jim McGovern Cori Bush Rashida Tlaib Jamaal Bowman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Jamie Raskin wrote a letter calling for oversight by Attorney General Merrick Garland out of deep concerns that the unprecedented nature of Mr Donziger s pending legal case is tied to his previous work against Chevron 6 This was later followed by a letter addressed to Roslynn Mauskopf from Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse 71 Fairness amp Accuracy in Reporting has been critical of the US media s coverage of Donziger s trial and house arrest In July 2021 it wrote that the New York Times had not published an article about Donziger since 2014 and that articles in the US corporate media largely favored Chevron It quoted an interview given by Donziger to Breakthrough News in which he said No matter what you think of me or Judge Kaplan isn t it newsworthy that an American lawyer is under house arrest for two years on a misdemeanor 72 In October 2021 the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention wrote that Donziger s two years of house arrest was arbitrary that his detainment was without legal basis and that he had been denied a fair trial 73 The Working Group criticized Kaplan and Preska for showing a staggering lack of objectivity and impartiality 34 73 Amnesty International asked US authorities to promptly implement the decision by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and release Donziger from detention 74 Writing in The Guardian newspaper in February 2022 Erin Brockovich contrasts her experiences to those of Donziger 75 Personal life EditDonziger is married and has a son 17 The family lives in a two bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan 17 49 References Edit SDonziger September 14 2021 Still strong as I turn 60 tomorrow My third consecutive birthday on house arrest the third straight year my son started school with his father wearing an ankle bracelet I am on Day 769 of detention for a crime where longest sentence is three months Hard to fathom Tweet Retrieved September 15 2021 via Twitter Johnston Louis Williamson Samuel H 2023 What Was the U S GDP Then MeasuringWorth Retrieved January 1 2023 United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the Measuring Worth series a b c d Malo Sebastien October 1 2021 Lawyer who sued Chevron sentenced to six months in contempt case Reuters Archived from the original on October 1 2021 Retrieved October 1 2021 a b Order to Show Cause Why Defendant Steven Donziger Should Not Be Held in Criminal Contempt PDF Courthouse News Archived PDF from the original on April 24 2022 Retrieved June 22 2022 The Neutral Forensic Expert shall take possession of Danziger s Devices At no time shall Chevron s Forensic Expert have access to the original Devices a b c Watts Jonathan April 18 2020 Nobel laureates condemn judicial harassment of environmental lawyer The Guardian Archived from the original on February 28 2021 Retrieved March 7 2021 a b Stancil Kenny April 28 2021 House Dems ask AG Garland to review Chevron s unjust legal assault on Steven Donziger Common Dreams Archived from the original on April 28 2021 Retrieved April 28 2021 Noor Dharna September 30 2021 UN Says Steven Donziger s House ARrest Violates International Law Gizmodo Archived from the original on September 30 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 Archived copy Twitter Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Lawyer Steven Donziger on Leaving House Arrest amp His Fight with Chevron Democracy Now Archived from the original on April 28 2022 Retrieved April 28 2022 Contempt conviction upheld for lawyer who won 9 5 BLN Chevron judgment Reuters June 22 2022 Archived from the original on June 23 2022 Retrieved July 2 2022 Raymond Nate March 27 2023 U S Supreme Court lets Chevron foe Donziger s contempt conviction stand Reuters Retrieved March 28 2023 a b c d e f g Krauss Clifford July 30 2013 Lawyer Who Beat Chevron in Ecuador Faces Trial of His Own The New York Times Archived from the original on June 7 2020 Retrieved May 13 2020 a b Tew Amanda Crude kicks off Jacksonville s Latin American film fest on Thursday Jacksonville com Florida Times Union Retrieved March 28 2023 Koffman Chloe January 18 2021 Steven Donziger corporate political prisoner Morning Star Archived from the original on February 27 2021 Retrieved March 7 2021 Kerr Peter July 23 1984 Aaron E Koota 78 Is Dead Former Judge amp Prosecutor The New York Times Archived from the original on May 5 2021 Retrieved May 5 2021 a b c d e f g h i j Hedges Chris August 25 2020 How Corporate Tyranny Works Scheerpost Archived from the original on August 26 2020 Retrieved August 26 2020 a b c d e f g Weyler Rex August 10 2020 How did a lawyer who took on big oil and won end up under house arrest Mother Jones Archived from the original on September 26 2020 Retrieved August 10 2020 Burton Rose Daniel August 15 1998 The Real War on Crime The Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission Book Review Prison Legal News Archived from the original on January 17 2021 Retrieved March 4 2021 a b c d e f g h i j Lerner Sharon January 29 2020 How the Lawyer Who Beat Chevron Lost Everything The Intercept Archived from the original on January 25 2021 Retrieved January 30 2020 a b Randazzo Sara May 2 2021 Litigation Without End Chevron Battles On in 28 year old Ecuador Lawsuit The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on May 5 2021 Retrieved May 5 2021 Texaco spent 40 million on local cleanup and obtained a liability release from Ecuador s government in the 1990s By Chevron s estimate it has cost the company nearly 1 billion including 1 5 million hours of its staff advisers and attorneys time a b c d Emersberger Joe September 11 2020 Manufacturing Disgrace Reuters Distorts Chevron v Donziger Fair Archived from the original on September 15 2020 Retrieved September 13 2020 Steinhardt Ralph G 2012 Remarks by Ralph G Steinhardt Proceedings of the Annual Meeting American Society of International Law 106 422 424 doi 10 5305 procannmeetasil 106 0422 ISSN 0272 5037 JSTOR 10 5305 procannmeetasil 106 0422 S2CID 152981537 In 2001 the U S court dismissed the Ecuadorian plaintiffs claims on grounds of international comity and forum non conveniens That dismissal rested on multiple affidavits from the defendants attesting to the fairness and adequacy of Ecuador s courts and Texaco agreed to satisfy any judgment subject to its rights under New York s Recognition Act The Second Circuit subsequently concluded that Texaco s promises are enforceable against Chevron in this action and any future proceedings between the parties a b c d e The Editorial Board July 13 2018 Opinion Steven Donziger Gets His Due The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on September 7 2020 Retrieved August 1 2020 Ecuadorans end Chevron pollution lawsuit in Canada France 24 Washington July 9 2019 Archived from the original on April 27 2021 Retrieved March 4 2021 Nagarkatti Karan McWilliams Gary September 7 2018 International tribunal rules in favor of Chevron in Ecuador case Reuters Archived from the original on April 13 2019 Retrieved April 6 2019 The tribunal unanimously held that a 9 5 billion pollution judgment by Ecuador s Supreme Court against Chevron was procured through fraud bribery and corruption and was based on claims that had been already settled and released by the Republic of Ecuador years earlier Randazzo Sara September 7 2018 Tribunal Condemns Ecuador s 9 5 Billion Ruling Against Chevron Arbitration court in The Hague echoes earlier decisions bolstering company s campaign to invalidate the 2011 environmental judgment The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on May 7 2021 Retrieved May 13 2021 The tribunal found Ecuador released Texaco in 1998 of its cleanup duties after the company spent 40 million on environmental remediation a b Krauss Michael September 16 2018 Justice Delayed But Not Denied Corrupt Ecuadorean Process Fails In International Arbitration Forbes Archived from the original on May 12 2021 Retrieved May 13 2021 Itzkoff Dave May 6 2010 Judge Rules that Filmmaker Must Give Footage to Chevron The New York Times Archived from the original on July 26 2021 Retrieved March 17 2018 Berlinger Joe May 27 2010 Declaration of Joe Berlinger PDF Crude Productions LLC Archived from the original PDF on August 11 2016 Retrieved March 17 2018 Folkenflik David June 4 2010 A Crude awakening Chevron Vs The documentarian All Things Considered NPR Archived from the original on October 10 2021 Retrieved March 17 2018 Isler Tom March 29 2014 What Chevron Corp v Donziger Continues To Get Wrong about Documentary Filmmaking Documentaries and the Law Blog University of Pennsylvania Law School Archived from the original on July 26 2021 Retrieved March 17 2018 a b c d Klasfeld Adam August 13 2019 When Feds Demur Judge Charges Ecuador Crusader Himself Courthouse News Archived from the original on September 4 2020 Retrieved September 13 2020 Zaitchik Alexander August 28 2014 Sludge Match Inside Chevron s 9 Billion Legal Battle With Ecuadorean Villagers Rolling Stone Archived from the original on August 31 2020 Retrieved September 8 2020 a b c d North James October 4 2021 Is Chevron s Vendetta Against Steven Donziger Finally Backfiring The Nation Archived from the original on October 23 2021 Retrieved October 23 2021 a b c North James March 31 2020 How a Human Rights Lawyer Went From Hero to House Arrest The Nation Archived from the original on April 19 2020 Retrieved May 6 2020 Barrett Paul October 31 2014 Anti Chevron Activists Accuse N Y Federal Judge of Financial Conflict of Interest Bloomberg News Archived from the original on October 27 2021 Retrieved November 27 2021 Anti Chevron rainforest and native peoples activists and Donziger himself have accused a federal judge in New York of allowing his personal investments to taint a March ruling that portrayed a multibillion dollar pollution suit against the oil company as a massive shakedown Because it s based on a fundamental distortion of the rules governing judicial financial disclosures and conflicts of interest the ethics charge isn t likely to be taken seriously Moreover the lawyer representing Donziger in a separate appeal of Kaplan s verdict declines to endorse or associate himself with his client s risky attack on Kaplan s ethics Donziger says in the release His hostility toward me and my highly vulnerable clients was palpable It is thus hard for me to see his failure to disclose these investments as a mere one time ethical lapse Professor Stephen Gillers an expert on legal ethics at New York University Law School says Donziger misconstrued the rules on disclosure and recusal Under the federal recusal statute and the Code of Conduct counterpart a federal judge must recuse himself if he has a financial interest in a party Gillers explains via email Ownership of a mutual fund that in turn holds securities in a party to a lawsuit is not considered a financial interest Gillers says a b c Hershaw Eva October 26 2015 Chevron s Star Witness Admits to Lying in the Amazon Pollution Case Vice Archived from the original on January 18 2021 Retrieved April 18 2020 Weiss Debra Cassens July 24 2019 Suspended lawyer ordered to pay 3 4M in attorney fees to Chevron as contempt sanction ABA Journal Archived from the original on March 18 2021 Retrieved March 9 2021 Stempel Jonathan March 4 2021 Lawyer and Chevron critic Donziger s civil contempt finding mostly upheld fees and sanctions vacated Reuters Archived from the original on March 6 2021 Retrieved March 7 2021 Earls Maya March 4 2021 Chevron s 660 000 Sanction Award Against Donziger Nixed on Appeal Bloomberg Law Archived from the original on March 11 2021 Retrieved March 7 2021 Stempel Jonathan August 14 2020 Lawyer who took on Chevron in Ecuador is disbarred in New York Reuters Archived from the original on August 22 2020 Retrieved August 22 2020 IN RE STEVEN R DONZIGER 2016 DDN 288 A Suspended Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Bar Registration No 431577 BEFORE Easterly and AliKhan Associate Judges and Washington Senior Judge PDF Dccourts gov Retrieved July 29 2022 ORDERED that Steven R Donziger is hereby disbarred from the practice of law in the District of Columbia Order to Show Cause Why Defendant Steven Donziger Should Not Be Held in Criminal Contempt PDF Courthouse News Archived PDF from the original on April 24 2022 Retrieved June 22 2022 Sirota David Bragman Walker July 14 2020 The US Government Gave Big Oil the Power to Prosecute Its Biggest Critic Jacobin magazine Archived from the original on August 8 2020 Retrieved August 3 2020 a b Hedges Chris October 6 2021 The Anonymous Executioners of the Corporate State Scheerpost Archived from the original on October 7 2021 Retrieved October 7 2021 Andrade Sofia August 12 2021 This Attorney Took On Chevron Then Chevron Linked Judges and Private Prosecutors Had Him Locked Up Slate Magazine Archived from the original on October 23 2021 Retrieved October 23 2021 a b c Judge drags Donziger s ex atty back in to court to represent him at conduct trial Thomson Reuters Reuters August 28 2020 Archived from the original on September 14 2020 Retrieved September 13 2020 a b USA Allegations of judicial harassment and arbitrary detention of lawyer Steven Donziger Lawyers Rights Watch Canada July 29 2020 Archived from the original on September 27 2020 Retrieved September 8 2020 a b North James May 28 2020 Chevron Tightens the Screws on Steven Donziger The Nation Archived from the original on April 8 2021 Retrieved March 7 2021 Malo Sebastien October 29 2020 Embattled attorney Donziger s trial postponed again Westlaw Today Retrieved July 11 2021 Malo Sebastien November 9 2020 Donziger contempt trial pushed to 2021 in order to get live body Reuters Archived from the original on November 10 2020 Retrieved November 10 2020 Grant Jason January 20 2021 Donziger s Criminal Trial Is Postponed Once Again as His Motion to Dismiss Counts Is Denied New York Law Journal Archived from the original on April 27 2021 Retrieved March 7 2021 Scharf Rachel April 16 2021 Donziger Wants His Trial Televised Citing Chauvin Case Law360 Archived from the original on April 19 2021 Retrieved April 19 2021 Donziger s Bid For Cameras In Trial Thwarted Again Law360 Law360 April 21 2021 Archived from the original on May 6 2021 Retrieved May 6 2021 Milman Oliver July 27 2021 Lawyer Steven Donziger found guilty of withholding evidence in Chevron case The Guardian Archived from the original on July 28 2021 Retrieved July 28 2021 a b Randazzo Sara July 26 2021 Chevron Foe Steven Donziger Found Guilty of Contempt in Ecuador Saga Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on July 29 2021 Retrieved July 29 2021 Lawyer Steven Donziger Who Led Suit Against Chevron Sentenced to Six Months for Contempt Democracy Now October 4 2021 Archived from the original on October 4 2021 Retrieved October 4 2021 Lawyer Steven Donziger Who Sued Chevron over Amazon Chernobyl Ordered to Prison After House Arrest Democracy Now October 27 2021 Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved October 30 2021 Malo Sebastien October 27 2021 Chevron foe Donziger surrenders after losing bid to avert prison Reuters Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved October 30 2021 SDonziger December 9 2021 BREAKING Danbury prison officials released me this morning to serve the rest of my sentence 136 days at home Tweet via Twitter Environmental Lawyer Steven Donziger Released to Serve Rest of Prison Sentence from Home Democracy Now December 10 2021 Archived from the original on December 10 2021 Retrieved December 11 2021 North James January 27 2022 Chevron s Prosecution of Steven Donziger The Nation Archived from the original on January 28 2022 Retrieved January 28 2022 Malo Sebastien February 4 2022 Donziger asks SCOTUS to take up disbarment case Reuters Archived from the original on February 6 2022 Retrieved February 5 2022 BREAKING Steven Donziger REMOVED From Home Forced Into Halfway House Lawyer Talks to Jordan on YouTube a b c Nocera Joe September 23 2014 Behind the Chevron Case The New York Times Archived from the original on November 4 2021 But there is another darker narrative about Donziger told most recently by Paul Barrett a Bloomberg Businessweek writer whose book about the Chevron Ecuador case Law of the Jungle is being published this week Barrett isn t the only one to come to view Donziger as a rogue lawyer willing to do virtually anything to win So has Roger Parloff Fortune magazine s legal writer who has covered the case for years And so has the highly respected human right lawyer and Notre Dame law professor Doug Cassel What s worse is that the Ecuadorians who live in the affected areas have still not seen any help 20 years later A lawyer with a more realistic view of the case might have been able to get a reasonable settlement early on A lawyer who had played by the rules might have even won a judgment that would now be enforceable in an American court Donziger disserved his clients and his cause by the way he conducted himself during the trial Cassel now says Charles Nesson Joins Attorney and HLS Alumnus Challenge Against Chevron Berkman Klein Center Harvard University March 25 2019 Archived from the original on June 3 2020 Retrieved April 18 2020 Weyler Rex July 31 2020 Opinion This lawyer took on Chevron and won the largest human rights and environmental court judgment in history Then he lost his freedom National Observer Archived from the original on August 6 2020 Retrieved August 10 2020 Law firm s alleged conflict in environmental case sparks student boycott The New York City Daily Post February 26 2021 Archived from the original on March 5 2021 Retrieved March 3 2021 Grant Jason February 26 2021 Students From 52 Law Schools Boycott Seward amp Kissel s Recruitment Over Alleged Conflict in Donziger Prosecution New York Law Journal Archived from the original on March 9 2021 Retrieved March 3 2021 Lerner Sharon April 7 2021 Law students denounce Chevron s law firm over Steven Donziger case The Intercept Archived from the original on April 22 2021 Retrieved April 22 2021 Klasfeld Adam July 30 2021 Democratic Senators Question Highly Unusual Private Prosecution of Chevron Foe Steven Donziger Law and Crime Archived from the original on August 3 2021 Retrieved August 3 2021 Baratta James July 2 2021 NYT Ignores Two Year House Arrest of Lawyer Who Took on Big Oil Fairness amp Accuracy in Reporting Archived from the original on July 3 2021 Retrieved July 3 2021 a b Opinion No 24 2021 concerning Steven Donziger United States of America A HRC WGAD 2021 24 PDF United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention October 1 2021 Archived PDF from the original on February 23 2023 The deprivation of liberty of Steven Donziger being in contravention of articles 2 3 7 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2 1 9 14 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is arbitrary and falls within categories I III and V Helmore Edward October 1 2021 Lawyer Steven Donziger gets six month sentence for contempt in Chevron battle the Guardian Archived from the original on October 23 2021 Retrieved October 23 2021 Brockovich Erin February 8 2022 What if instead of a movie I got flung in jail This lawyer who fought Chevron was The Guardian London United Kingdom ISSN 0261 3077 Archived from the original on February 8 2022 Retrieved February 8 2022 Further reading EditDonziger Steve August 16 2021 The Persecution of Steve Donziger Roger Waters and Steve Donziger Interview Interviewed by Randy Credico amp Roger Waters Archived from the original on August 28 2021 Retrieved August 28 2021 via YouTube External links EditDonziger defense Wikiquote has quotations related to Steven Donziger Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Steven Donziger amp oldid 1150948305, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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