*

Lobbyist for Exxon investigated for role in hacking

operation

targeting environmentalists

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Green groups urge scrutiny of any potential Exxon ties to

spying

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Exxon says: 'If there was any hacking involved, we condemn

it'

By Raphael Satter and Christopher Bing

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 - Two Democratic senators and a host

of environmental groups have called for investigations and

accountability following a report that a lobbyist for Exxon

Mobil ( XOM ) had been investigated for its alleged role in a

sweeping hack-and-leak operation that targeted prominent critics

of the oil company.

In late November, Reuters reported that more than 500 email

accounts belonging to environmentalists and their allies were

targeted by mercenary hackers between 2015 and 2018 as part of

an effort to help beat back climate change investigations and

lawsuits being mounted against Exxon.

Reuters reported that Exxon's longtime Washington

consultant, the DCI Group, had been investigated by the FBI over

the hacks as well as the subsequent leak of some of the

environmentalists' emails to the press.

At the time of that report, Exxon had denied any involvement

with the espionage campaign and called allegations to the

contrary "conspiracy theories." In a statement on Wednesday,

Exxon said "if there was any hacking involved, we condemn it in

the strongest possible terms."

DCI said in a statement that the company "has not been

involved in nor commissioned others to hack or to obtain

information unlawfully."

Senate Budget Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse - a critic of the

energy company - said in a statement the news that DCI was

implicated in the distribution of emails stolen from prominent

environmentalists was cause for serious concern and urged the

Department of Justice to "take a good, long look at Exxon and

its fellow fossil fuel flunkies."

Responding to the Reuters story, Senate Finance Chairman Ron

Wyden said the cyberespionage industry "threatens the very core

of America's democracy and fundamentally undermines our justice

system." In a statement, the Oregon lawmaker called for justice

for "corporations and billionaires who pay for hack-and-leak

operations against their critics," without naming specific

companies or people.

Democratic California representative Ro Khanna called the

hacking allegations "deeply concerning."

Department of Justice officials declined to comment.

MERCENARY HACKING

The lawmakers' statements come as the Justice Department

reaches a crossroads in a wider investigation of mercenary

hacking that began in early 2018.

A key player in the scheme, private detective Aviram Azari,

is due to be released from prison next month after refusing to

cooperate with U.S. authorities, his attorney has previously

said.

The London extradition trial of Amit Forlit, a former

business associate of Azari who is wanted by the U.S. in

connection with the investigation into DCI, is due to begin on

Jan. 22. In a deposition made public in 2022, Forlit said he had

"never commissioned hacking and never paid for hacking."

Some hacking victims fear that Trump, an oil industry ally

who has called climate change a hoax, will kneecap the

investigation. In 2020, during Trump's first term, Senator

Whitehouse had already raised the alarm over what he called

"political interference" in the prosecution.

Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung said the

president-elect had been "quite clear" that the Justice

Department and the FBI would be independent under his

administration.

The environmental groups targeted in the hacking

campaign have urged investigators to keep at the case and

scrutinize any possible involvement by Exxon.

The Center for International Environmental Law's acting

president, Amanda Kistler, said the Reuters story had exposed

the cyberespionage operation's "increasingly clear links to

Exxon Mobil ( XOM )." The Union of Concerned Scientists' Kathy Mulvey

urged investigators "to get to the bottom of what if any role

Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) may have played here."

Those two groups were among the organizations named as

targets of mercenary hackers by the Canadian watchdog group

Citizen Lab in 2020.

Reuters has since identified more than a dozen additional

groups caught up in the surveillance operation, including

several public affairs firms such as SKD Knickerbocker, which

regularly does work for Democratic politicians and left-leaning

campaigns.

Data reviewed by Reuters as part of its long-running

investigation shows that the hackers also targeted the advocacy

organization Oil Change International, environmental and human

rights group Earthworks, and the left-wing Working Families

Party.

SKD Knickerbocker, now known as SKD, said it had "not been

breached and no emails were compromised."

Oil Change International's Executive Director Elizabeth Bast

said in a statement that industry had spent years undermining

those fighting climate change and the "disgusting" hacking

allegations uncovered by Reuters "underscore why governments

must take action to rein in these rogue companies."

In a statement, Washington-based Earthworks wondered "what

threat" it could possibly have posed to a company the size of

Exxon.

The Working Families Party's political director, Joe Dinkin,

demanded that Exxon investigate its relationship with the

hackers.

"Beyond that, an apology would be nice," Dinkin said.