Thanks, Gustavo, for the comment! I defer to those who know how these things work in Ecuador. I have no personal knowledge of Ecuadoran banking practices.

I will say, though, that if the question is whether the Zambrano signature is authentic, Chevron has both a burden of production and the burden of persuasion. It met its burden of production by offering testimony from Judge Guerra that the signature was, in fact, Zambrano’s. Ultimately, Chevron has to persuade the judge that this is so, but if there is any evidence that it’s not Judge Zambrano’s signature, then it would be to the advantage of the LAPs and Donziger to bring such evidence forward.

The main point here is that in Ecuador you could sign the deposit slip under any name. You could even sign as Mr. Barack Obama (to use any fake name) and there is a huge probability that your deposit is accepted. The deposit slip should not be taken as a probative document.

The lawyers of Chevron should tell the full story to the judge, and warn the judge of the existence of such probability … otherwise, the Chevron legal team could maliciously try to get the judge to reach a decision with a huge probability of error.