For Ecuador’s PR Firm, Celebrity Backing Carries Hefty Price Tag
A public relations firms legally suspect work on behalf of the Ecuadorian government included hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to talent agencies representing prominent celebrities who traveled to the country to bemoan environmental damage there.
The firm, MCSquared, organized junkets to Ecuador last year, where actors Danny Glover and Mia Farrow promoted an Ecuadorian lawsuit against oil company Chevron over alleged environmental contamination.
According to documents filed with the Justice Department last week, MCSquared paid more than half-a-million dollars to two prominent talent agencies to recruit celebrities for the events.
Those payments were part of a $6.4 million PR contract on behalf of the government of Ecuador. MCSquared undertook much of the work last year, but only notified the DOJ, as is required by federal law, in July after the Washington Free Beacon reported that it had failed to disclose its contract with that government.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/for-ecuadors-pr-firm-celebrity-backing-carries-hefty-price-tag/