New York, NY — Dozens of Nobel Laureates are demanding the U.S. Department of Justice immediately intervene and block the controversial misdemeanor contempt prosecution of U.S. human rights attorney Steven Donziger by a private Chevron law firm appointed by a judge with investments in Chevron. Donziger was the lead lawyer on a pollution case that resulted in a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron in Ecuador, prompting the company to launch a “demonize Donziger” campaign.
Read MoreWashington, DC – Six members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have sent an urgent letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging that the Department of Justice reassert jurisdiction over and immediately review the case of famed human rights attorney Steven Donziger who faces trial on May 10th in the Southern District of New York on a misdemeanor contempt charge that has resulted in him enduring over 600-days of house arrest.
Read MoreNew York – Lawyers for human rights attorney Steven Donziger today moved to dismiss his unprecedented criminal contempt case as an improper “vindictive prosecution” orchestrated by Chevron to help the oil giant evade a $9.5 billion pollution judgement owed to Indigenous communities in Ecuador.
Read MoreNew York – In a shocking decision, a New York appellate today refused again to release U.S. human rights lawyer Steven Donziger even though he has been imprisoned at home for almost two years on a misdemeanor charge where the maximum ever imposed on a lawyer is only 90 days of home confinement.
Read MoreNew York -- In a major rebuke to Chevron and controversial U.S. trial judge Lewis A. Kaplan, a New York appeals court today threw out a key contempt finding against human rights attorney Steven Donziger that had been used to fine him millions of dollars in court costs and led to criminal contempt charges that resulted in an unprecedented 19-month house arrest without trial.
Read MoreSteven Donziger, the attorney who won an unprecedented $9.5 billion pollution judgment against Chevron on behalf of Indigenous peoples and rural communities in Ecuador, has been under house arrest without trial on a misdemeanor charge for a record-breaking 574 days - for defending his clients’ right to attorney-client privilege.
Read MoreNew York – Students from over 50 leading U.S. law schools -- including Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and New York University -- have announced a recruiting boycott of a prominent Chevron law firm to protest its “unethical” private prosecution of U.S. human rights lawyer Steven Donziger after he helped win a $9.5 billion pollution judgment against Chevron.
Read MoreThirteen international human rights and environmental watchdog organizations sent an open letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking it to launch a high-level review of the retaliatory "SLAPP" lawsuits Chevron brought against the lawyer who helped 30,000 Indigenous peoples and farmer communities in Ecuador win a landmark $9.5 billion judgment against the company for massive oil pollution.
Read MoreNew York – With trial still months away, the private Chevron-linked law firm appointed to prosecute human rights attorney Steven Donziger on a petty misdemeanor after the charges were rejected by the U.S. Attorney has billed taxpayers at least $464,000, according to stunning new disclosures ordered by a New York federal court.
Read MoreNew York – In a decision described as Kafkaesque by human rights advocates, a U.S. judge who leads a pro-corporate judicial organization funded by Chevron has refused yet again to release celebrated environmental attorney Steven Donziger from home detention after he helped his Indigenous clients win a historic $9.5 billion pollution judgement against the oil giant.
Read More