New York, Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. courts are showing increasing hostility toward Chevron and its CEO John Watson (pictured) over the company's $18 billion Ecuador liability as the oil giant's plan to quash the landmark case continues to falter in the hands of American law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, said representatives of the Amazon indigenous groups who offered an analysis of the 18-year case to its shareholders and industry analysts.
Leaders of the indigenous groups in Ecuador -- who last year won the largest environmental court case in history -- are presenting their analysis because Watson misled company shareholders about the case in an earnings call last Friday. Watson failed to disclose his own conflict of interest in that he was a key Chevron executive who drove the purchase of Texaco in 2001 without properly vetting the company for its massive Ecuador liability, said Karen Hinton, the U.S. spokesperson for the Ecuadorians.
In the earnings call, Watson charged that the Ecuador case is part of an elaborate "fraud" to extort money from Chevron -- a false statement that directly contradicts court findings based on scientific evidence, including evidence provided by Chevron itself, said Hinton.
"Watson uses rhetoric as a device to hide his failed leadership on the Ecuador case," said Hinton. "His comments about the Ecuador liability on the earnings call were misleading and should be treated with extreme skepticism by shareholders."
For a more accurate analysis of the risks facing the Ecuador case than that Chevron is making in its quarterly calls or in its disclosures to the SEC, Hinton said shareholders should reference areport on the Ecuador case by Simon Billenness and Sanford Lewis that was published in May of last year prior to the company's annual meeting. Both point out risks that Chevron has not completely disclosed, including the likelihood of standard collection actions against Chevron assets in various countries that are critical to the company's operations.
Watson's comments more...
NEW YORK — A judge overstepped his authority when he tried to ban enforcement around the world of an $18 billion judgment against Chevron...
more...
NEW YORK, Jan. 23 /CSRwire/ - Chevron has paid a whopping $2.2 million to a longtime company contractor who repeatedly threatened to expose the company's attempts to mislead the court and corrupt the landmark environmental trial in Ecuador ...
more...Bloomberg
by Patricia Hurtado
January 19, 2012
Chevron Corp. (CVX) lost another bid before a U.S appeals court for an order blocking enforcement of an Ecuadorean court’s $18 billion environmental damages verdict.
more...Huffington Post
January 16, 2012
Kerry Kennedy
President
The Robert F. Kennedy Cente
for Justice & Human Rights
Communities Release Document Summarizing Wide Body of Scientific Evidence
QUITO, Ecuador, Jan. 5, 2012 (PRNewswire-USNewswire) -- Ecuador's courts relied on a wide body of devastating scientific and documentary evidence to find Chevron liable ...
Paul Paz y Miño
Managing Director, Amazon Watch, San Francisco
January 04, 2012
Rainforest Communities Issue Statement Condemning Chevron's Greed & Criminal Misconduct in South American Country
QUITO, Ecuador, Jan. 3, 2012 (PRNewswire-USNewswire) -- The Lago Agrio plaintiffs issued the following statement on the ruling from the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios in Lago Agrio, Ecuador...
more...Smoking Gun Evidence that Company Duped Its Own Paid Experts to Hide Presence of Cancer-causing Toxins at Chevron Well Sites
NEW YORK, Dec. 29, 2011 (PRNewswire-USNewswire) -- Even though it lost the historic $18 billion trial in Ecuador, Chevron continues to defraud Ecuador's appellate courts by refusing to disclose that it altered a key document...
more...
