A lawyer for Exxon Mobil Corp. mocked New York's fraud lawsuit against the oil giant, saying the state had falsely accused engineers and scientists of cooking up a massive scheme to mislead investors about the financial risks of climate change.
"It's a cruel joke, your honor, because the reputations of a lot of good people have been disparaged by the bringing of this complaint," attorney Theodore Wells told a judge Thursday during his closing statement after a trial that spanned three weeks.
New York sued in 2018 after a three-year probe, claiming it found evidence that Exxon sought to use a pair of 2014 shareholder reports to trick investors into thinking the company was planning properly for a low-carbon future and inflating Exxon's value by as much as $1.6 billion.