Chevron set out to destroy @SDonziger, to make an example of a human rights lawyer that dares take on the petroleum pirates. But the oil giant also went after journalists... #FreeDonzigergregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
In one case, filing a complaint against the BBC Television reporter that broke the story that Chevron had destroyed key evidence in the case. I was that reporter — and survived with my job after a year of hearings.
I’ve gone way out of my way to get Chevron/Texaco’s side of the story. I finally chased them down in Ecuador’s capital, Quito. I showed them a study of the epidemic of childhood leukemia centered on where their company dumped oil sludge. chevroninecuador.org/assets/docs/ch…
Here’s their reply:
“It’s the only case of cancer in the world? How many cases of children with cancer do you have in the States?”
Texaco’s lawyer, Rodrigo Perez, was chuckling & snorting.
“Scientifically, nobody has proved that crude causes cancer.”
OK, then. But what about the epidemiological study about children with cancer in the Amazon traced to hydrocarbons? chevroninecuador.org/assets/docs/ch…
The parents of the dead kids, he said, would have some big hurdles in court:
“If there is somebody with cancer there, they must prove it is caused by crude or by the petroleum industry. And, second, they have to prove that it is OUR crude.”
Texaco’s lawyer, Rodrigo Perez leaned over with a huge grin.
“Which is absolutely impossible.”
He grinned even harder.
And maybe that’s because the evidence of oil dumping was destroyed.
Deliberately, by Chevron.
I passed the ChevronTexaco legal duo a document from their files labeled “Personal y confidential.” gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
They read in silence, stayed silent for quite a while.
And they stopped grinning.
The key part says:
“Reports . . . are to be removed from the division and field offices and be destroyed.”
It came from the company boss in the States, “R. C. Shields, Presidente de la Junta.”
"Removed" and "destroyed" — that smells an awful lot like an order to destroy evidence, which in this case means evidence of abandoned pits of deadly drilling residue.
Destroying evidence that is part of a court action constitutes fraud.
In the United States, that would be a crime, a jail-time crime.
“Can we have a copy of this?” Chevron lawyer Jaime Varela asked me, pretending he’d never seen it before in his life.
I’ll pretend with them, if that gets me information. “Sure. You’ve never seen this?”
The ritual of innocence continued as they asked a secretary to make copies.
“We’re sure there’s an explanation,” Varela said. I’m sure there is. “We’ll get back to you as soon as we find out what it is.”
When I did my BBC report on the lawsuit which found Chevron had illegally dumped 16 billion gallons of oil waste in the Amazon, not everyone was happy I'd ended it with quotes from the oil giant's lawyers. But I let the Chevron lawyers hang themselves... soundcloud.com/user-835943867…
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#Ukraine: It’s not aid, it’s our obligation under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum #UkraineNeedsAirDefense | #ArmUkraineNow
Under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. So, we had an obligation to defend Ukraine if they were ever invaded. hartmannreport.com/p/the-failure-…
And when we say aid to Ukraine, understand almost all the money that we “give" to Ukraine is used to buy American weapons, and supplies, and goods. It doesn't go anywhere. It's just money for them to purchase stuff mostly from us. apnews.com/article/biden-…
In 1996, I filmed an investigation that never saw the light of day. It was about the richest guys you’d never heard of, Charles and David Koch — and their theft of a mind-blowing $2 billion in oil from Osage tribal land. Now, I’m blowing open the files in a new film... 🧵
It’s said that behind every great fortune is a great crime. This is the crime, the genesis of the Kochs’ $120 billion empire — and the foundation of the fearsome Koch Network, that political Death Star, created solely to keep Charles Koch out of prison. gregpalast.com/what-charles-k…
Killers of the Flower Moon tells the story of the murder of scores of Osage for their oil. It ends in the 1920s, but as Chief Standing Bear says, “It’s still going on”. He wants us to know the rest of the story, especially the Osage's battle with Koch Oil gregpalast.com/americas-osage…
This week, Scorsese releases his film Killers of the Flower Moon: the true story of the mass murder of the Osage and the theft of their oil wealth. But the story doesn’t end when the credits roll. For 27 years, I've been investigating what happened next... 🧵
Over the past century, the #Osage Nation has continued to suffer massive oil thievery, poisoning, and impoverishment on their Oklahoma reservation.
“It’s not over,” Osage principal chief, Geoffrey Standing Bear, tells me. “It’s still happening.” gregpalast.com/americas-osage…
At the heart of it is legal control of Osage native land by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, an entity the Osage call the Ma-he-tah, or the Long Knife. Standing Bear, a lawyer himself, likens the arrangement to a military occupation.
In the 1920s, after discovery of the massive oil field on the #Osage Reservation, the US government took away the Osage’s right to their wealth, instead appointing a white Guardian for each Osage to “protect” their money. gregpalast.com/until-they-kil…
Here’s how their guardians protected them: Anna Brown was shot in the head, her mother Lizzie poisoned, and her sister Rita was burnt to death when her home was dynamited.
Sixty—and likely many more—Osage were assassinated.
Their murderers inherited their oil rights.
That story, of the murder-for-oil Reign of Terror, is movingly portrayed in the film, #KillersOfTheFlowerMoon, starring @LeoDiCaprio, to be released next month.
On June 25th, 2013 the US Supreme Court gutted the #VotingRightsAct, when they ruled 5 to 4 that Section 4 was unconstitutional. The case, Shelby v. Holder, was financed in part by multi-billionaire hedge fund manager Paul “The Vulture” Singer.
Earlier this week, @ProPublica revealed that #PaulSinger flew #JusticeAlito on his private jet to Alaska for a luxury fishing vacation in early 2008 (a gift which Alito failed to disclose). propublica.org/article/samuel…
@propublica #PaulSinger subsequently had multiple cases before Alito and the Supreme Court — including a 15-year long dispute with the nation of Argentina. #SCOTUS #JusticeAlito gregpalast.com/paul-singer-th…
Yesterday @ProPublica revealed that #PaulSinger flew #JusticeAlito on a private jet to Alaska for a luxury (undisclosed) fishing vacation. Singer subsequently had multiple cases before SCOTUS — including his vulture attack on Argentina, which forced the nation into default.
I’ve been hunting #PaulSinger The Vulture for BBC TV since 2007, when he pocketed the money meant to aid those affected by the cholera epidemic in the Republic of Congo.
My 2012 cover story for @TheNation, “Mitt Romney’s Bailout Bonanza”, revealed how #PaulSinger secretly set up Romney to make $100 million off Obama’s auto bailout. https://t.co/yvbHSVfclNthenation.com/article/archiv…