There are many facets to Chevron Corporation’s counteroffensive against the Ecuadoreans who won a $9.5 billion verdict against it three years ago. Chevron took aim at the lead lawyer behind the Ecuador case, Steven Donziger, and persuaded a federal judge in Manhattan to rule this month that Donziger and his clients secured the megajudgment through fraud. It’s also well-known that Chevron is targeting the law firm spearheading efforts to enforce the judgment, Patton Boggs, in a fraud claim pending before the same judge. Less well-known is that Chevron is pressing a similar case against the plaintiffs’ main litigation funder—the online gaming billionaire Russell DeLeon of Gibraltar. Chevron will seek from DeLeon global litigation costs that might be north of half a billion dollars.
Chevron’s case against DeLeon is now gaining traction. Any funder or lawyer involved in the business of enforcing foreign judgments would be wise to pay attention.
