WTF Is Going On in Shell’s Security Department? A Greatest Hits Reel of Spooks, Lawsuits, and “Diversity” Theater

Shell—the ultimate sin stock with a moral compass that spins like a loose bearing—has a new headline act: a fresh lawsuit claiming its Houston corporate security team purged white staff and parachuted in “weaker” replacements under the banner of DEI. Add it to a long, messy rap sheet of security-side controversies featuring Crockett Oaks III, Michael G. Oliveri, Walied Shater, and Shell’s own global security boss of yesteryear, James W.D. Hall. Investors like BlackRock, Vanguard, and Norges Bank keep cashing the dividends while the spook show rumbles on. 

The New Suit: “Reapply if you’re white”

In the latest filing in the Southern District of Texas, plaintiffs Kevin Taylor and Michelle Romak say a regional security manager ran a “reorganization” that required the white members of Shell’s Houston corporate security team to reapply for their own jobs, while non-white employees did not—followed by promotions the complaint describes as less qualified and, in one case, ineligible for a U.S. role due to citizenship. That’s the allegation; Shell hadn’t offered a public comment at publication time in initial coverage. (Pro tip: allegations are not findings—yet.) 

And yes, this flares against Shell’s polished website language—“Our global vision is to become one of the most diverse and inclusive organisations in the world.” That’s the corporate voice. The courtroom gets the last word.       

Flashback: Hall, Oaks, and the Oliveri debacle

Roll the tape to 2016–2017, when Shell security controversies were already boiling. A federal complaint by Michael G. Oliveri (the candidate at the center of that earlier hiring fight) quotes an email attributed to James W.D. Hall, then Shell’s VP of Corporate Security, advising: “[l]et’s indeed look to backfill Bob’s role with some younger external talent.” In the same strand, Hall pushed “to look particularly at female candidates.” Those are direct quotes from the filed complaint’s exhibits—no editorializing needed. 

The hiring dust-up cost Shell more than a little peace. Crockett Oaks III—an ex-FBI agent who ran U.S. security—sued, saying he was fired after resisting pressure to hire a younger woman over the older, male Oliveri. Shell went to court to muzzle disclosures via a temporary restraining order on confidential personnel matters, while declining comment at the time. (Yes, the former security chief was under a gag—because security.) 

Oliveri filed his own suit alleging age discrimination and retaliation when his job offer was rescinded and later passed over. Reporting at the time noted the case ultimately settled; details weren’t public. In other words: not a clean win, not a clear exoneration—just a hush-hush ending. 

The Shater saga: one case fizzles, another keeps grinding

Then there’s Walied Shater. In one chapter (decided November 28, 2022), the Fifth Circuit agreed with the district court that his promotion case didn’t make it past summary judgment: “We agree with the district court that Shater’s claim does not survive summary judgment under either standard.” That’s a hard stop on that particular claim. 

But Shater didn’t exit the stage: separate OCAHO proceedings under the Immigration and Nationality Act § 1324b followed, where his filings allege Shell “retaliated against him for asserting rights protected under § 1324b.” Those orders are procedural snapshots, not final merits wins, but they confirm the dispute kept moving on a new legal track. Different chapter, same book.

What Shell says vs.what Shell does

On glossy pages and recruiting hubs, Shell promises the moon: “Our global vision is to become one of the most diverse and inclusive organisations in the world.” Lovely. Meanwhile, sworn filings quote senior security leadership enthusing about “younger external talent” and “female candidates” for roles—words that play great in a branding deck and terribly in a discrimination suit. If your hiring rationale reads like a compliance seminar’s “don’t say this” slide, that’s not culture change; that’s evidence. 

Meet the money: the index-fund Mount Rushmore

And who bankrolls this circus? As of July 31, 2025, BlackRock sits on roughly 8.51% of Shell, Vanguard about 5.31%, and Norges Bank Investment Management around 2.56%. The passive-money machine doesn’t do scruples; it does scale. You get dividends, they get fees, and the security department gets another headline. 

Pattern, or just perpetual “one-offs”?

To believe Shell’s line that each blow-up is a quirky anomaly, you’d have to forget the chronology:

• 2017: Former U.S. security head Oaks sues; Shell seeks a restraining order to keep “confidential” security HR laundry in the hamper. 

• 2017: Oliveri sues after a rescinded offer; filings quote emails from global security leadership about age and gender preferences; case later settles. 

• 2020–2022: Shater litigation; one case dies on summary judgment, then a related retaliation matter proceeds under a different statute before OCAHO. 

• 2025: New Houston security lawsuit alleges a DEI-branded purge of white staff and “weaker” replacements. Rinse, repeat. 

If it quacks like a pattern and litigates like a pattern, maybe it’s… a pattern.

The WTF take

Shell’s security shop keeps walking into the same rake: whiplash between PR platitudes and the ugly, discoverable emails that lawsuits pry into daylight. The company’s public pitch is inclusion; the documentary record—at least in those prior filings—includes lines like “[l]et’s indeed look to backfill Bob’s role with some younger external talent.” That isn’t “belonging.” That’s Exhibit A. 

And while Shell spins the ESG carousel, the passive-money behemoths keep owning the float. The spooks keep lawyering up, the pleadings keep piling up, and the rest of us are expected to clap for “progress.” What the f*** indeed.

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DISCLAIMER

This article is unapologetically satirical and sharply critical—but fact-based. All quotes are reproduced exactly from verified sources, with no falsehoods. It was created by John Donovan with the assistance of AI (or the other way round). John knows all about Shell spying on a global basis, including on its own employees and notable activists such as Ken Saro-Wiwa. Ask Hakluyt. Ken Saro-Wiwa was one of the Ogoni 9, all hanged by the Nigerian military regime backed by Shell.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.