Chevron foe Donziger (Age 60) released from prison under COVID waiver
There will be a lot of prisoners unhappy with how this lawyer’s waiver was granted when he looks in good health and the confinement was only six months. LIT has watched the majority of these applications be denied as it requires a “terminal illness”.
DEC 10, 2021 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: DEC 10, 2021
Donziger will serve the balance of his contempt charge sentence from home
Donziger won $9.5 billion Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron, which Manhattan judge ruled was secured through bribery
Attorneys for environmental lawyer Steven Donziger said Thursday that he is serving the remainder of a six-month sentence for contempt of court at home under a pandemic-era early release program.
Donziger tweeted Thursday afternoon: “Danbury prison officials released me this morning to serve the rest of my sentence (136 days) at home.”
Donziger’s legal team had requested his release under the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act, said Martin Garbus, one of his lawyers.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately reply to a request for comment nor did it respond to a phone call.
Donziger began serving his sentence at the Danbury federal prison on Oct. 27. A prison staffer contacted by phone could not confirm his release.
The prison’s website says it is operating under the strictest level of COVID modifications, including masking, screening and social distancing.
Donziger, who was disbarred in New York last year, was found guilty of criminal contempt in July including for failing to turn over his computer and other electronic devices in connection with his long-running legal battle with Chevron Corp over oil pollution in Ecuador.
In that case, a Manhattan judge in 2014 barred enforcement in the United States of a $9.5 billion judgment that Donziger won against Chevron in Ecuador, finding it was secured through bribery, fraud and extortion.
United States v. Valentine, 06-cr-580-5 (JSR), at *1-2 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 1, 2021) (“In any case, these arguments do not change the Court’s analysis that Valentine has not demonstrated “extraordinary and compelling circumstances” to warrant a reduction in sentence to home confinement, nor do they in any way undermine the Court’s prior § 3553(a) analysis. As the Court stated in its order of March of this year, reducing Valentine’s sentence today to home confinement would be grossly inconsistent with the nature and seriousness of the offense and would not afford adequate deterrence. For the foregoing reasons, Valentine’s motion for compassionate release and appointment of counsel, ECF No. 285, is denied.”)
New post: Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Sylvia Ash On Trial for Obstruction of Justice https://t.co/8TgVO6lPFY
— LawsInTexas (@lawsintexasusa) December 10, 2021
The Harvard Law School graduate has appealed his conviction and his sentence.
Prior to his imprisonment, Donziger spent about 800 days in home confinement to address concerns of flight risk.
The lead prosecutor in his case, private attorney Rita Glavin, declined to comment.
The case is United States v. Donziger, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 21-2486.
For United States: Rita Glavin of Glavin PLLC; Brian Maloney of Seward & Kissel
For Donziger: William Taylor of Zuckerman Spaeder; Martin Garbus of Offit Kurman; and Ronald Kuby
Steven Dozinger Contempt Bench Trial in NYC: It’s a Charade and I’m Completely F**ked
Chevron and Kaplan target Donziger after he helped the Indigenous win a $9.5B judgment in 2011 for dumping oil waste in the Amazon.
Texas Lawyer Stephen Pursley Received 24 Months for $5M IRS Tax Evasion. Now He Wants Home 18 Months Early.
Steve Pursley was facing a hefty jail term, which the guidelines state could be 20 years or more. Of course, being a lawyer in front of Judge Lynn Hughes, he received 2 years and now Pursley believes 6 months jail is quite enough.
Texas Lawyer On Trial for Federal Tax Evasion involving Millions of Dollars and Shelf Companies. No Doubt A lot of Other Texas Lawyers Will Be Watching and Worrying
The indictment alleges that Pursley received more than $4.8 million and an ownership interest in the co-conspirator’s ongoing business for his role in the fraudulent scheme.
