I’ve been following Steven Donzinger’s case for a while now and it’s pretty clear the corporate take over of the US government is complete with the capture of the judicial branch.  The outrageous treatment of this human rights lawyer and the unprecedented zeal in which the judges goes after him shows their true allegiance.

confinement for more than two years. He is the first attorney ever to be charged with criminal contempt over a discovery dispute in a civil case where the attorney went into voluntary contempt to pursue an appeal. He is the first person to be prosecuted under Rule 42 (criminal contempt) by a private prosecutor with financial ties to the entity and industry that was a litigant in the underlying civil dispute that gave rise to the orders. He is the first person tried by a private prosecutor who had ex parte communications with the charging judge while that judge remained (and remains) unrecused on the criminal case.

“No lawyer in New York for my level of offense ever has served more than 90 days, and that was in home confinement,” Donziger told the court. “I have now been in home confinement eight times that period of time. I have been disbarred without a hearing where I have been unable to present factual evidence; thus, I am unable to earn an income in my profession. I have no passport. I can’t travel; can’t do human rights work the normal way which I believe I am reasonably good at; can’t see my clients in Ecuador; can’t visit the affected communities to hear the latest news of cancer deaths or struggles to maintain life in face of constant exposure to oil pollution. In addition, and this is little known, Judge [Lewis A.] Kaplan has imposed millions and millions of dollars of fines and courts costs on me. [Kaplan is the judge for Chevron’s lawsuit against Donziger; Preska is his handpicked judge for the contempt charges.] He has ordered me to pay millions to Chevron to cover their legal fees in attacking me, and then he let Chevron go into my bank accounts and take all my life’s savings because I did not have the funds to cover these costs. Chevron still has a pending motion to order me to pay them an additional $32 [million] in legal fees. That’s where things stand today. I ask you humbly: Might that be enough punishment already for a Class B misdemeanor?”

Source: Salon

This is pure corporate prosecution of a lawyer who did his job to hold Chevron responsible for the damage that its subsidiary has done to the people of Ecuador.  This is a huge warning shot to those who want to the right thing and a sign to everyone else that if you do, these corporations will throw unlimited funds to ruin you.  Sigh unfortunately cleansing the judicial branch in the US of these corporate stooges will take a long time, unlike politicians who one can vote out, many of these guys will be in place for decades.

I guess that’s the end game of capitalism, complete take over of all branches of government and may the rest of the citizens of the world pay close attention so it doesn’t happen locally!