Chevron Is Ethically And Legally Corrupt, Even For An Oil Company

Oil companies are not expected to rank highly on a scale of moral rectitude, but Chevron's (and their adopted child Texaco's) actions in Ecuador are still shocking. This week's New Yorker lays out the plot in the multi-billion dollar environmental case brought by Ecuadorians against the multinational behemoth. There is the usual tale of total indifference to environmental damage that one would expect of course, but added to that are examples of ethical bankruptcy, such as framing a local Ecuadorian judge for bribery:

In August, 2009, Chevron offered startling evidence to support its claim that Ecuador was hopelessly corrupt: it released video footage that allegedly implicated the judge then presiding over the Lago Agrio case, Juan Nuñez, in a bribery scheme. An Ecuadoran businessman named Diego Borja had been hoping to secure a cleanup contract in the event of a judgment against Chevron. But when Borja met with the judge and a Correa administration official, the company explained, he was informed that he first needed to pay a million dollars each to Nuñez, to the administration, and to the Lago Agrio plaintiffs... the videos, which Chevron posted online, showed Borja and the official elliptically discussing the possibility of a bribe with Nuñez, but offered no proof that the judge had solicited or accepted one...

Chevron insists that it did not prompt Borja to raise discussions about paying bribes, and says that he was not compensated for his efforts. But, according to court documents, Borja and his wife were relocated, at Chevron’s expense, to the U.S., and supplied with a house, a car, a generous monthly stipend, and the services of a top criminal-defense attorney.

In the past, Texaco (as Chevron once was in Ecuador), would never have had to sink to such depths; they owned that government. The profits from the oil went to the government-not the people. Words like 'accountability' never passed through the lips of that government's spokesmen. One would like to be able to say (usually in a haughty and condescending tone) that this sort of rank criminal activity would never happen in the United States. But that is only because a company such as Chevron would never have to offer a bribe, or frame a judge for soliciting a bribe, as long as they kept the money flowing to our intrepid (or insipid?) representatives. It does not take much of an imagination to picture every single Republican in Congress, and a fair share of Democrats, taking to the rostrum to denounce the administration for vilifying 'job creators', in the event an administration ever thought themselves brave enough to criticize such a large corporate citizen.


The saying 'you get what you pay for' is never more true than when it comes to our nation's justice system. The biggest and richest of companies get a little slap on the wrist from the appropriate initialed agency, pay their fine, and then go on doing as they did before. A Chevron, or a Goldman Sachs, will never be taken down so long as they continue to underwrite the continued employment of their representatives.

Aside from all of that, Chevron and its lawyers are also complete and unremitting assholes. They went after the Ecuadorian's lead lawyer, Steven Donziger, by subpoenaing every single one of his case-related files going back almost two decades. Then they deposed him:

At one point, Donziger was asked whether he kept a diary. Initially, he said no. But his diary, which he had maintained for several years, was saved on one of his laptops, and Gibson, Dunn found it on his hard drive. When Chevron filed the text, unexpurgated, with the court, it became part of the public record—another humiliation for Donziger. In the diary, he details his doubts and aspirations, and returns, obsessively, to the subject of his adversary, who in his shorthand is simply “Tex.” He recounts arguments with his wife and makes unsparing observations about his colleagues.