The actress Sharon Stone demanded a six-figure fee, three first-class plane tickets, and an entire floor at a ritzy hotel with complimentary room service and wireless internet before agreeing to denounce "Big Oil" in Ecuador in April of 2014, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Details of the Casino star’s requests were revealed this week in federal court, where a public relations firm representing the government of Ecuador is accusing Stone and her speaking agency of absconding with a $275,000 speaking fee.
In addition to that fee, Stone, through the American Program Bureau (APB), her speaking agency, requested first-class airfare for three to Quito, Ecuador, and an entire floor of the "best hotel in Ecuador," according to a copy of her contract filed as evidence in the suit.
The contract requires that Stone’s room include "one two-bed, two-bath suite and one king room," free room service, and free wi-fi. Stone also demanded "exclusive First Class professional ground transportation 24/7 while in Ecuador."
MCSquared PR, a New York public relations firm that has represented the government of Ecuador under legally questionable circumstances, is currently suing Stone and APB for failing to appear at the event as promised.
The firm says it incurred more than $75,000 in expenses "to accommodate Stone’s diva-like requests, including first-class airfare tickets and luxury hotel suites for herself and her three companions."
APB secured the contract with MCSquared in 2014, booking Stone for an appearance at an anti-Chevron event in Ecuador. That country’s government is engaged in a long-running legal, political, and public relations battle with the oil company over environmental contamination in the country.
MCSquared signed a contract with Ecuador’s Communications Secretariat in 2013 to attack Chevron for its alleged failure to meet its legal obligations to remediate pollution in the country.
The company was hit with a $19 billion judgment in an Ecuadorian court in 2011 over that contamination, and has fought attempts to enforce the judgment in countries where, unlike Ecuador, it has assets that can be seized.
A U.S. federal court last year ruled that the Ecuadorian judgment was the result of fraud, bribery, and extortion on the parts of plaintiffs in the case.
MCSquared was not involved in the legal campaign, but has since promoted efforts to saddle Chevron with responsibility for contamination that the company says is the fault of Petroecuador, the country’s state-owned oil company.
As part of its campaign, MCSquared has enlisted the services of a number of American celebrities, including Mia Farrow and Danny Glover. Farrow has admitted being paid by the Ecuadorian government for her junket to the country, but said that she received far less than the $188,000 that MCSquared reported paying to her speaking agency.
The firm reported payments of $330,000 to APB, which also represents Glover. It is alleging in federal court that APB and Stone violated the terms of their agreement when Stone failed to show up for her speaking engagement due to illness.
Rodrigo de Silva, an attorney for MCSquared, said that Stone’s demands were over the top.
"Asking for hotel and travel accommodations for an entourage of three additional individuals is uncommon as is to request hair and make-up for an event to be conducted in the Amazon rainforest and its attendant extreme humidity conditions," he said in an emailed statement.
An attorney for Stone could not be reached for comment.