Massachusetts brings climate-related fraud case against Exxon News
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Massachusetts brings climate-related fraud case against Exxon

The Massachusetts Attorney General sued ExxonMobil on Thursday for repeatedly violating the state’s consumer and investor protection laws and related regulations by defrauding investors and threatening the world economy.

Two claims were made against ExxonMobil in the complaint: ExxonMobil is deceiving the investors by systemically failing to disclose the risks to its business from climate change and related regulations, and the dangers those risks pose to the world’s financial markets and misrepresenting its business practices; meanwhile, ExxonMobil is deceiving its consumers about how its fossil fuel products cause climate change through misleading advertisements.

Under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act Chapter 93A, the Attorney General alleged ExxonMobil’s violations have taken the form of both significant factual misstatements and the failure to make disclosures to investors and consumers that would have been material for Massachusetts investors’ decisions to purchase, sell, retain, and price ExxonMobil securities and for Massachusetts consumers’ decisions to purchase ExxonMobil fossil fuel products that cause climate change.

ExxonMobile did not comment and has 20 days to respond to the state’s complaint in the Boston court.