On the eve of the trial, Donziger reiterated his stance that the case against him is intended to intimidate and suppress efforts to hold the oil industry accountable for environmental damages. environmental lawyer Steven Donziger speaking about his upcoming federal trial: an unusual contempt-of-court case over his pursuit of an Ecuadorean court judgment against Chevron.
This screenshot from a May 9, 2021, video shows U.S. “He made the decision to not to comply with the judgement right from the beginning.”ĭonziger’s legal team has accused Judge Preska of bias because of her connections to the Chevron-funded Federalist Society, and launched an unsuccessful motion for her recusal from the case. “He began violating that RICO judgment as soon it as was issued,” Glavin said Monday. case Chevron filed under federal anti-racketeering law. Kuby, a legendary civil rights attorney who is name-dropped in “The Big Lebowski,” said he expects two days of defense arguments that will likely start next Monday.ĭuring the prosecution’s half-hour opening arguments Monday, Glavin said Donziger stood to make $550 million from the Ecuadorean judgment against Chevron through his 6.3% contingency fee interest, and that he deliberately defied post-judgement court orders issued by Judge Kaplan concerning those proceeds in the U.S. Lead prosecutor Rita Glavin said Monday that she anticipates three days of direct witness testimony to conclude on Thursday. Donziger is convicted.”ĭonziger, who has spent over 600 days under court-ordered house arrest in his Manhattan apartment, faces up to six months in prison on the criminal contempt counts. “At the end of this case, we will ask you, but know you will not, to return a verdict of not guilty on all counts,” defense attorney Martin Garbus said ruing the defense’s opening argument Monday morning.Įarlier in the day during a pretrial logistics hearing, defense co-counsel Ron Kuby anticipated Donziger’s future appeal, asking Judge Preska collect Judge Kaplan's communications with the law firm he appointed as private prosecutors, Seward & Kissel, to filed under seal with the Second Circuit for review “once Mr.
District Judge Loretta Preska is presiding over these extremely rare proceedings, but Donziger’s attorney repeatedly suggested Monday morning that she has prejudged the case. Kaplan drafted the contempt counts himself and tapped a private counsel to lead the prosecution against Donziger after the U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in a case where Donziger and indigenous Ecuadoreans living in the oil-polluted Amazon rainforest stood accused of obtaining a $9.8 billion verdict against Chevron through a fraud on Ecuador's court system.
RITA GLAVIN DONZIGER TRIAL
MANHATTAN (CN) - Attorneys for environmental lawyer Steven Donziger appeared to anticipate a pre-decided conviction on six contempt counts as the unusual bench trial two years in the making finally opened Monday morning.ĭonziger faces six misdemeanor counts of contempt of court for allegedly disobeying the orders of U.S.
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