OK, the actual facts of the Donziger case.
Steven Donziger, along with a coalition of indigenous groups, environmental activists, and hard left political groups in Ecuador sued Chevron. In the course of the case, they bribed multiple judges and court officials and, in general, grossly perverted any semblance of due process. For example, the judge who made the ruling (it never went to a jury) was promised a percentage of any damages he awarded.
Chevron then took action under US Federal RICO statutes. The Ecuadorian judgement was legally found to have been procured by fraud, bribery, and corruption, was therefore unenforceable in the United States, and Donziger was disbarred from practicing law. In the course of the case, during the appeal, Donziger was sentenced to house arrest for contempt of court after refusing to obey a court order that he turn over various electronic devices and records in his custody as ordered by the court. In July he was sentenced to a further 6 months for criminal contempt of court.
I will note that it is not just the US courts that have found the Ecuadoran judgement to have been fraudulent. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that it was "the most thorough documentary, video, and testimonial proof of fraud ever put before an arbitral tribunal" in regards to the case and ruled that Ecuador must compensate Chevron for all legal fees due to the sheer scale of the fraud.
Also, do note that *every single one of the delays* in the trial that kept Donziger locked up in home confinement was due to motions and continuances sought *by the defense*, that he changed lawyers multiple times throughout the case, and generally acted in a manner calculated to play to a sympathetic audience rather than actively resolve the case.
