April 12, 2007
Steve Hawkes and Michael Herman
An American law firm will make £24 million in fees after securing an historic $450 million (£228 million) compensation payout for thousands of Shell shareholders following the oil group’s reserves scandal in 2004.
An insider at the Anglo-Dutch group told The Times yesterday that it was paying the Delaware-based Grant & Eisenhofer an amount equal to about 10 per cent of the settlement. This will come on top of the money earmarked for investors.
Despite the size of the legal bill, shareholders said yesterday that they were pleased with the agreement, the largest of its kind seen in Britain.
Shell has agreed to pay $352.6 million to pension funds, and institutional and private investors across Europe to compensate for the share-price plunge after the reserves crisis. The beneficiaries include Morley Fund Management and AXA.
Shareholders are also set to receive another $96 million originally paid by Shell as a fine to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. A separate agreement with US investors is expected within weeks.
Three years ago, Shell admitted that it had overstated the amount of proven oil and gas reserves on its books by more than 20 per cent. Sir Philip Watts, chief executive, and Walter van de Vijver, head of exploration, resigned.
Beat Hess, Shell’s legal director, said that the compensation was a step in drawing a line under the scandal.
Any shareholder who bought Shell shares outside the United States between April 8, 1999, and March 18, 2004, can make a compensation claim under the agreement. Mr Hess said private investors could receive around 13p per share, although it may take two years for the money to come through.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article1642757.ece
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
