Two sheriff's deputies in South Carolina were fired on Monday over their involvement in the case of the death of a Black man who had died after he was forcibly removed from his jail cell in North Charleston in January. Preska herself is a leader of the Chevron-funded Federalist Society, a pro-corporate legal advocacy group. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Nevertheless, without a jury, Judge Kaplan accepted Guerras contrived evidence and convicted Donziger of fraud. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. Please see our Privacy Policy. A lawyer for Chevron told the 2nd U.S. Kaplan then appointed a Chevron law firm, Seward & Kissel, to prosecute Donziger while the firm billed taxpayers more than $500,000. While it was Kaplan who ordered Donzigers prosecution, the case is pending now before the Southern District of New Yorks former chief, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska. 1:19-cr-00561. Law360 takes your privacy seriously. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan PLEASE NOTE: A verification email will be sent to your address before you can access your trial. From the introduction of the opinion: [T]he Court finds that Donziger began his involvement in this controversy with a desire to improve conditions in the area in which his Ecuadorian clients live. Judge Kaplan then set about dealing with post-trial matters that in many lawsuits would be simple housekeeping. New York New York human rights advocate Steven Donziger today criticized a contempt finding against him by federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan, saying the ruling is part of an intimidation play by Chevron designed to block enforcement of a landmark pollution judgment owed to Indigenous Kaplan accepted the fabricated evidence and ordered Mr. Donziger to surrender privileged and confidential phone and computer records to Chevron. Information, analytics and exclusive news on financial markets - delivered in an intuitive desktop and mobile interface. Attorney Steven Donziger speaks with reporters outside the United States Court of Appeals in New York City April 20, 2015. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. At the unorthodox suggestion of Judge Kaplan, in 2011, Chevron filed a RICO complaint against Donziger and two Ecuadorian attorneys, claiming that the judgment obtained after 10-years of litigation before three levels of Ecuadorian courts was the Donziger's attorney Martin Garbus of Offit Kurman said that Preska "continues to ignore the fact that this is a Chevron prosecution paid for by Chevron dollars by a judge who unconstitutionally appointed her." Judge Kaplan (a Bill Clinton appointee) has also been enabled by the wider US judiciary in his persecution of Donziger. After winning a more than $9 billion judgment for indigenous people in Ecuador, Chevron went after Donziger with abusive legal actions. A federal appeals court in New York just threw out Judge Lewis A. Kaplans key contempt finding against human rights attorney Steven Donziger. Donziger won a major case against Chevron for the widespread pollution it causes in Ecuador. His trial in the case is scheduled for May 10. 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