Steven Donziger

Steven Donziger, An Idolized, Yet Corrupt Lawyer

Steven Donziger is the best example of how a handful of activists in the world and in the United States are capable of turning an individual accused of corruption into a martyr.

El American - Sabrina Martín Rondon 04/03/2022

The case of the American lawyer Steven Donziger is the best example of how left-leaning activist in the world and in the United States may turn an individual accused of corruption into a martyr.

Donziger was found responsible for forging evidence and engaging in corrupt practices to win a lawsuit against the well-known oil company Chevron. Evidence showed that the lawyer engaged in bribery to get the Ecuadorian courts to render a verdict in his favor.

A U.S. federal court proved on March 4, 2014, that Donziger participated in all kinds of maneuvers so that the Ecuadorian justice would issue a sentence against Chevron. However, the media decided to depict him as a hero.

Media such as The Hill, Democracy Now!, Axios, Bloomberg News and The Nation, described him as an environmental hero victim of big oil interests. Bloomberg, in particular, fawned over how “videos tagged #freedonziger have been viewed more than 700,000 times on TikTok.”

“This lawyer should be world-famous for his battle with Chevron — but he’s in jail,” said The Guardian columnist Erin Brockovich.

But leftist leaders ignore that U.S. Justice determined that Donziger violated federal racketeering laws by committing fraud, money laundering, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.

Congressmen like Democrat Chuy Garcia, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, have come out to defend him. So have “social” leaders such as Greta Thunberg; and just like them, renowned artists also enraptured with left-wing ideologies, define Donziger as a victim and not as the one responsible for bribing and manipulating a trial that ended up becoming an attempt at corporate extortion.

Even Roger Waters has called him a “friend” and condemned Chevron in his social networks as if the American justice system were not independent. It is not surprising that Waters is involved in the cause, since he has already shown his admiration for the Chavista tyranny and for the communist Gabriel Boric in Chile.

Mia Farrow, Sharon Stone and Roger Waters appear in the case

The case dates back to Texaco’s operations with state-owned oil company Petrocuador in Ecuador’s Amazon Region that ended in 1990. Although Texaco remediated its share of the environmental impacts and was released by the government from any liability in 1998, Chevron continues to be falsely accused of environmental contamination in Ecuador.

Dozinger, Ecuadorian Pablo Fajardo, and a group of lawyers sued Chevron, which acquired Texaco, and mounted a campaign of extortion, fraud, and bribery to obtain a judgment in their favor. Simultaneously, they launched a smear campaign against the company, which was later joined by the government of Rafael Correa, who hired a U.S. advertising agency for more than $6.4 million. It included paid actors, such as Mia Farrow or Sharon Stone, trying to pressure Chevron to pay compensation.

After the bribed judges in Ecuador issued a judgment against Chevron for more than $9.5 billion, the American oil company went to the U.S. courts to prove that it was a fraudulent decision plagued with irregularities.

What did Steven Donziger do and why is he not a heroic lawyer?

The Wall Street Journal sums it up nicely, “Donziger and his team fabricated evidence, promised $500,000 to an Ecuadorean judge to rule in their favor, ghostwrote much of the final verdict and took other actions that ‘perverted’ the course of justice. Mr. Donziger disputes the findings.”

During the trial against Steven Donziger and his associates in a New York court, it was established that apart from writing the verdict to the Ecuadorian judge, the plaintiffs’ lawyers sought to profit from the fraud to the point that they opened secret accounts in tax havens to collect the claim.

Judge Lewis Kaplan of New York determined that the Ecuadorian judgment was fraudulent, and prohibited Donziger and his associates from attempting to profit from it.

Despite this, Donziger, caught in his fraud, attempted to continue to profit from it. In fact, Karen Hinton, former advisor to former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and even Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, have been part of Donziger’s campaign, hiding the fact that, in exchange for their support, they have a stake in the fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment.

An article in the National Review notes that documents filed with the US court show that “George R. Waters” has two different equity stakes in the case, one of 0.076% and another of 0.025%, through “Fenwick,” allegedly the company of Mark Fenwick, Roger’s manager and heir to the Fenwick department store chain in the UK.

For all this and for continuing to try to profit, Donziger was disbarred, ordered to pay Chevron $3.4 million, and placed under house arrest.

Today, March 4, 8 years after the lawyer’s true face and guilt were revealed, Donziger is still using the left-wing media while he continues to try to raise funds at the expense of his victimization and using indigenous communities that have already designated him persona non grata.

The original article can be found here.