When a federal judge ruled last year that trial lawyer Steven Donziger’s team engaged in fraud to win a multibillion-dollar environmental lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador, both moral supporters and investors who funded the legal action began to bail. The specific evidence cited by the judge and the negative publicity was too much for backers such as Burford Capital and the Patton Boggs law firm, which renounced their involvement in the lawsuit. But not Amazon Watch, an environmental group dedicated to preserving the Amazon rainforests and fighting climate change that relies on celebrity donors such as actor and director Leonardo DiCaprio and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer to fund its global work. Read more>>
