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international law and treaty obligations in connection with its failure to honor its contractual<br />

agreements. The Lago Agrio Plaintiffs and other parties named in this Amended Complaint are<br />

not and cannot be parties to the Treaty Arbitration, and Ecuador has asserted sovereign immunity<br />

against claims filed in courts of the United States.<br />

c. Manipulating and Falsifying Their Own Experts' Findings<br />

to Corrupt the Judicial Inspection Process<br />

96. At the outset of the litigation, the Lago Agrio court ordered a process known as a<br />

judicial inspection to assess the 122 former consortium oil production sites. In a process agreed<br />

to by both parties and the court, experts were nominated by each side and appointed by the court<br />

to investigate and report on conditions at the sites. The court nominated a third set of "settling<br />

experts" to resolve any differences between the experts nominated by the parties.<br />

97. The RICO Defendants and their co-conspirators believed they could use and<br />

corrupt the judicial inspection process to their advantage. To this end, they designed a strategy<br />

to "choreograp[h]" the judicial inspections and to "create conflict, invit[ing] the press" to "entrap<br />

[Chevron] in the conflict." As Donziger put it, "The goal of the inspections [was] to win the<br />

legal case, not to produce an independent scientific repOli." From his perspective, the judicial<br />

inspection process was "all about politics and arguing and bulls[**]t and show." Part of that<br />

show was to organize a number of demonstrations at the judicial inspection sites-some<br />

threatened to become violent (see paragraph 76, supra)-to showcase the strength and will of the<br />

RICO Defendants' and their co-conspirators' "army" and to send a message to the judiciary that<br />

it was being watched.<br />

98. The RICO Defendants and their co-conspirators have also sought and obtained a<br />

court order prohibiting Petroecuador from conducting any remediation ofthe former consortium<br />

area. Fajardo spelled out to his colleagues, "[Petroecuador is] altering the evidence and it is<br />

possible that when our technicians go to the PG to take samples that they will find most of the<br />

waste has been removed. This could complicate things for us a bit." Fajardo explained that it<br />

was "urgent" that the RICO Defendants "coordinate" with Petroecuador "so they will desist<br />

42

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