## Facts

- Indigenous and other residents of the Lago Agrio region pursued environmental claims tied to Texaco’s historical operations; Chevron later acquired Texaco.
- After a U.S. dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds, plaintiffs litigated in Ecuador and obtained a multibillion-dollar judgment against Chevron in 2011 (later reduced on appeal in Ecuador).
- Chevron filed a civil RICO and state-law action against Steven Donziger and others, alleging the Ecuadorian judgment was procured and monetized through fraud, extortion, and corruption.
- Following a bench trial, the court found defendants engaged in coercion and improper pressure directed at Ecuadorian judicial actors.
- The court found that a court-appointed expert report (the Cabrera report) was secretly drafted and shaped by plaintiffs’ consultants and lawyers while presented as independent.
- The court found the Ecuadorian judgment was ghostwritten in substantial part by plaintiffs’ team and adopted pursuant to a corrupt quid pro quo, including a promised payment to the presiding judge from any recovery.
- The court found the Ecuadorian judgment incorporated plaintiffs’ internal work product that was not part of the official record, supporting the finding of fraudulent procurement.
- Chevron sought primarily equitable relief (not damages at trial), including an injunction against enforcement and profiting from the judgment in the United States and imposition of a constructive trust.

## Issues

1. Whether defendants conducted or participated in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of civil RICO, tied to obtaining and enforcing the Ecuadorian judgment.
2. Whether equitable relief (injunction, declaratory relief, constructive trust) is available to a private plaintiff under civil RICO.
3. Whether defendants were liable for common-law fraud and related New York-law misconduct in procuring and attempting to monetize the Ecuadorian judgment.
4. Whether principles of international comity barred in personam relief restricting enforcement or profit from a foreign judgment found to have been procured by fraud.

## Decision

- The court found Chevron proved civil RICO violations and related state-law fraud-based claims against Donziger and other principal defendants.
- The court held civil RICO authorizes equitable relief to prevent and restrain RICO violations in a private action.
- The court granted declaratory relief that the Ecuadorian judgment was procured by fraud and racketeering and is unenforceable in the United States.
- The court entered a permanent injunction barring defendants from seeking to enforce or profit from the Ecuadorian judgment in the United States.
- The court imposed additional equitable remedies, including a constructive trust over any proceeds defendants obtained from the judgment.

## Legal Principles

- Civil RICO liability may be established by proof of an enterprise and a pattern of racketeering activity (including acts such as wire fraud, extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering) aimed at securing and exploiting a litigation outcome.
- Fraudulent procurement of a judgment can be shown through evidence of corrupt judicial influence, concealment of authorship, and use of materials outside the adjudicative record presented as legitimate support.
- Private civil RICO actions may support equitable remedies where necessary to prevent and restrain ongoing or threatened racketeering-related harm, including injunctive and constructive-trust relief.
- Relief restricting enforcement or monetization of a foreign judgment may be framed as in personam remedies against wrongdoers, reducing comity concerns when the court does not purport to nullify the foreign judgment as a matter of foreign law.

## Conclusion

After a bench trial, the court concluded defendants used racketeering and fraud to procure and commercialize a multibillion-dollar foreign judgment, and it granted declaratory and injunctive relief—plus a constructive trust—to prevent defendants from enforcing or profiting from that judgment in the United States.


Chevron Corp. v. Donziger, 974 F. Supp. 2d 362 (S.D.N.Y. 2014)