Brazil’s High Court Rejects Attempt to Enforce Fraudulent Ecuadorian Judgment Against Chevron
November 30 2017 - 12:04PM
Business Wire
Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (STJ) unanimously rejected an
attempt to enforce a fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron
Corporation on Wednesday, November 29, citing a lack of
jurisdiction. The fraudulent judgment has now been rejected in
Argentina, Brazil and the United States.
“Courts around the world continue to reject attempts to profit
from this fraudulent judgment,” said R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron’s vice
president and general counsel. “Today’s decision reinforces our
belief that any jurisdiction that observes the rule of law will
find the Ecuadorian judgment to be illegitimate and
unenforceable.”
The STJ’s 10-0 vote follows a decision by an Argentine court on
Oct. 31 denying recognition of the Ecuadorian judgment, also citing
a lack of jurisdiction.
Prosecutors in both Brazil and Argentina had previously opined
that the Ecuadorian judgment was unenforceable because it was the
product of fraud and corruption. In 2015, Brazil’s deputy
prosecutor general found that the judgment “was issued in an
irregular manner, especially under deplorable acts of corruption
that represent an offense against the international public order
and even to good morals.”
In 2014, a U.S. federal court found the Ecuadorian judgment to
be the product of fraud and racketeering activity. The court also
found that Steven Donziger, an American lawyer behind the lawsuit,
violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
Act (RICO), committing extortion, money laundering, wire fraud,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, witness tampering and
obstruction of justice in obtaining the Ecuadorian judgment. The
court detailed its findings of fact in a nearly 500-page decision.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously
affirmed the lower court’s decision in August 2016. In June 2017,
the United States Supreme Court rejected Donziger’s petition
seeking review of the case.
In January 2017, a Canadian court rejected an attempt to enforce
the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron’s subsidiary, Chevron
Canada Limited. The court found that Chevron Canada Limited is a
separate entity from Chevron Corporation, not a party to the
Ecuadorian lawsuit and not a debtor to the judgment.
In December 2015, the Supreme Court of Gibraltar issued
a judgment against Amazonia Recovery Ltd., a
Gibraltar-based company set up by Donziger and his associates to
receive and distribute funds resulting from the fraudulent
Ecuadorian judgment. The court awarded Chevron $28 million in
damages and issued a permanent injunction against Amazonia,
preventing the company from assisting or supporting the case
against Chevron in any way.
Chevron has never operated in Ecuador. Texaco Petroleum
(TexPet), which became a subsidiary of Chevron in 2001, was a
minority partner in an oil-production consortium in Ecuador along
with the state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, from 1964 to 1992.
After TexPet turned its remaining share of the oil operations over
to Petroecuador in 1992, pursuant to an agreement with Ecuador,
TexPet agreed to conduct a remediation of selected production sites
while Petroecuador remained responsible to perform any remaining
cleanup. The government of Ecuador oversaw and certified the
successful completion of TexPet’s remediation and fully released
TexPet from further environmental liability. Petroecuador, however,
failed to conduct the cleanup it promised and has continued to
operate and expand oil operations in the former concession over the
past 20 years.
Chevron Corporation is one of the world’s leading integrated
energy companies. Through its subsidiaries that conduct business
worldwide, the company is involved in virtually every facet of the
energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports
crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes
transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells
petrochemicals and additives; generates power; and develops and
deploys technologies that enhance business value in every aspect of
the company’s operations. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif.
More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.
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Chevron CorporationMorgan Crinklaw, +1-925-842-4204
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