MCSquared and Fitzgibbon Media are about to become household names in the World that is the long-running Chevron Ecuador lawsuit battle.
According to The Hill, the two firms received $6.4 million for the purpose of launching a multifaceted reputation management campaign.
The entire taking off of the veil behind this effort was due to pressure placed by the Washington Free Beacon website, raising questions about the legality of the undisclosed work for the President of Ecuador.
The Department of Justice released documents showing that the lead staffer for MCSquared is Maria del Carmen Garay. On her Pinterest page, Maria del Carmen Garay, who goes by “Maria Garay” on the MCSquared website, says she’s “a lefty-progresive-socialist with a taste for luxury items and a simple life. 50% of me dreams of Ecuador and the other half is glued to NY.”
Among the people and brands she follows is Rafael Correa, the President of Ecuador.
Currently the Creative Strategist and Communicator at MCSquared, Maria Garay is also the founder of the firm. She has ran the company for almost three years, according to her Linkedin page.
In December of 2013, MCSquared partnered with Fitzgibbon Media — another public relations company, but with an interesting client linked to Ecuador: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who received asylum in Ecuador.
There’s also another group involved called The Toxic Effect, and who’s website of the same name is registered in Panama. The Toxic Effect was behind the anti-Chevron Twitter campaign of two months ago.
Here’s the full document:
DOJ doc linking MCSQUARED PR FIRM with Ecuador as client against Chevron
Stay tuned.