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
Amazon Defense Coalition of 30,000 Amazonian residents in a region the size of Rhode Island. The case was initially heard in a U.S. court in New York City and then moved to Nueva Loja, Ecuador in 2003. With a 2011 judgement of $18 billion against the oil giant, confirmed in 2013 by the Ecuador Supreme Court, it is potentially the biggest environmental litigation ever brought against a multi-national corporation. The ADC was initially the main organization to follow up the lawsuit. In 2001, the Assembly of People Affected by Texaco (ADAT) was created to better represent the affected communities and make the most