Corruption in Ecuador accused Ecuador of violating the due process of 27 Supreme Court justices dismissed by Congress in 2004. In 2015, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) stated that “judicial independence is seriously compromised” in Ecuador. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in 2014 that an $18 billion pollution judgment against Chevron by an Ecuadoran court in 2011 had been the product of corruption. Attorney Steven Donziger and his legal team, according to Kaplan, had “used bribery, fraud and extortion” to win the case for his clients, a group of Ecuadoran villagers. Evidence showed that the ruling issued by Ecuadoran judge Nicolas Zambrano
Peruvian Amazon Company César Arana ran the company in Peru. Its British Board of Directors included Sir J. Lister Kaye. The company operated in the area of the Putumayo River, a river that flows from the Andes to join the Amazon River deep in the tropical jungle. This area was contested at the time among Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and it was inhabited by numerous indigenous people. The company participated in abuses and criminal actions against laborers in the area, with its overseers using force and even killing to suppress the workers. An investigative report by Roger Casement, British consul, exposed the abuses, embarrassing