And they should fire their corporate spinmeister, too. Here’s what he said in response to yesterday’s decision against his company:
Exxon Mobil spokesman Alan Jeffers said the company has no plans to appeal the ruling and that the judge based his decision on jurisdictional issues.
“The important thing, from our perspective, is the court did not question the merits of our underlying claim,” he said.
And here’s proof that he’s talking out his ass:
Judge Paul Walker noted that such freezing orders are rare and occur in cases where there is “usually compelling evidence of serious international fraud.”
“In the present case there is no suggestion whatever of fraud on the part of (Petroleos de Venezuela SA) or any entity or person associated with it,” Walker said in a summary of conclusions released by the court.
During the court case, Walker also signaled that he agreed with PDVSA’s argument that the case didn’t fall under British jurisdiction since it isn’t a British company and has no assets, businesses or bank accounts there.
No, that doesn’t sound like he’s questioning the merits of ExxtortionMobil’s case at all. Actually, it sounds an awful lot like he’s just saying they’re a pile of shit.
