hRb7u

would have had access to this non-public information without the clandestine assistance from the
RICO Defendants and their co-conspirators.
327. While both Chevron and the Lago Agrio Plaintiffs have appealed the fraudulent
judgment in Ecuador, the systemic weakness of the Ecuadorian judiciary, institutional failings,
and the manipulation of the appellate process in this case demonstrate that Judge Zambrano's
ruling will not receive an independent and fair review. Instead, there is evidence that the very
judge who issued the decision-Judge Zambrano, along with Benjamin Cevallos, the President
ofthe Judicial Council-which has sole power to appoint and remove judges in Ecuador­
manipulated the selection process to hand select the three judges who will hear the appeal.
Cevallos appeared at a press conference with Judge Zambrano to announce the issuance of the
judgment in the Lago Agrio case, praising Zambrano as a "shining star," and in the months
leading up to the constitution of the panel engaged in several unusual actions. The three judges
initially assigned to the appeal consisted of Judge Zambrano, Judge Nunez, and Judge Marco
Yaguache. Then, weeks before the panel was officially constituted, Judge Yaguache was
removed from the panel by Cevallos and replaced by Judge Luis Legna with no justification,
except to state that Judge Y aguache' s removal was "for the benefit of institutional interests."
Then Judge Zambrano, as the Judicial Council's provincial delegate, allegedly conducted a
"lottery" to replace himself and Judge Nunez on the panel. Contrary to Ecuadorian law, this
alleged lottery was conducted in secret and with no notice to the parties. As a result, the panel
consisted of Judge Legna, whose presence on the panel was engineered by Cevallos; Judge
Toral, who was nominated by Judge Zambrano; and Judge Orellana, who was appointed as a
substitute judge by the Judicial Council, which is controlled by Cevallos as President, just six
weeks before Judge Zambrano issued the judgment against Chevron. The Lago Agrio Plaintiffs
themselves noted the procedural irregularities in the constitution ofthe appellate panel in a brief
filed last month with the Lago Agrio Court, requesting that the panel make clear that
appropriate procedures were followed "to avoid defects nullifying the proceedings." Even
setting aside the role of the Judicial Council, and specifically Cevallos, in the constitution of
130