Disbarred attorney Steven Donziger was found guilty of six counts of criminal contempt of court, the latest twist in a nearly three-decade crusade against Chevron Corp. that began as an attempt to prove the oil company caused environmental harm in Ecuador.
The legal saga has since spanned the globe and morphed into a fight between Mr. Donziger and Chevron itself, resulting in Mr. Donziger being put under home confinement for nearly two years as he awaited a trial over charges that he repeatedly flouted court orders.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska found him guilty on all six charges in a nearly 250-page order issued Monday morning. “It’s time to pay the piper,” she wrote.
The contempt case, the judge wrote, has nothing to do with any responsibility Chevron might bear for pollution in the rainforest in Ecuador, where Chevron’s predecessors drilled for oil in the previously pristine jungle. The company has repeatedly denied any culpability.
Instead, “at stake here is the fundamental principle that a party to a legal action must abide by court orders or risk criminal sanctions, no matter how fervently he believes in the righteousness of his cause or how much he detests his adversary.”
