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judgment that, if ultimately rendered, could be the result of a fraud practiced by the Lago Agrio<br />

plaintiffs."<br />

325. On February 14,2011, the Lago Agrio court did just that when it announced its<br />

judgment, awarding $8.65 billion in supposed damages, another $865 million on top of the<br />

damages to the Front as the Lago Agrio plaintiffs' representative, and $8.65 billion in punitive<br />

damages, all of which are unsupported by law or evidence. In accordance with the conspirators'<br />

longstanding strategy, the award is lower than the amounts the RICO Defendants claimed, so as<br />

to allow the RICO Defendants to argue that the judgment was supposedly fair because the court<br />

"cut down the largest part." On its face, the judgment confirms that it was not the product of<br />

anything resembling a fair process and instead purports to impose record-breaking liability on<br />

Chevron without even the pretense of a finding that Chevron actually caused any harm. While<br />

disclaiming reliance on Cabrera, the judgment necessarily relied on Cabrera's fraudulent report<br />

(the only "evidence" of causation in the case) and on the reports of the RICO Defendants' other<br />

"new" experts, such as Allen, Shefftz and Barnthouse, whose reports were designed by the RICO<br />

Defendants and their co-conspirators to "whitewash" the Cabrera Report and who themselves<br />

have admitted to relying on the Cabrera Report, rather than conducting their own independent<br />

analyses. The judgment further imposed another $8.65 billion as "punitive" damages, although<br />

Ecuadorian law does not allow for punitive damages and the Lago Agrio Plaintiffs did not even<br />

seek such damages in their complaint. The Lago Agrio court stated that it would relieve<br />

Chevron of this "punitive penalty" only if Chevron issued a public "apology" in both the<br />

Ecuadorian and United States press, effectively admitting liability, within fifteen days of the<br />

judgment. The apparent purpose ofthis penalty was to coerce an unjustified admission of<br />

liability from Chevron by making the cost of an appeal equal to $8.65 billion so that Chevron<br />

could not possibly successfully appeal or challenge enforcement later. In addition, the judgment<br />

all but ignored Chevron's undisputed evidence of the RICO Defendants' misconduct, including<br />

the Calmbacher and Cabrera frauds.<br />

128

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