Exclusive: Exxon lobbyist investigated over hack-and-leak of environmentalist emails, sources say

Source: Reuters

Exclusive: Exxon lobbyist investigated over hack-and-leak of environmentalist emails, sources say
By Raphael Satter and Christopher Bing
November 27, 202412:36 PM EST

WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The FBI has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the contractor's alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company’s biggest critics, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The operation involved mercenary hackers who successfully breached the email accounts of environmental activists and others, the sources told Reuters.

The scheme allegedly began in late 2015, when U.S. authorities contend that the names of the hacking targets were compiled by the DCI Group, a public affairs and lobbying company working for Exxon at the time, one of the sources said. DCI provided the names to an Israeli private detective, who then outsourced the hacking, according to the source.

In an effort to push a narrative that Exxon was the target of a political vendetta aimed at destroying its business, some of the stolen material was subsequently leaked to the media by DCI, Reuters determined. The Federal Bureau of Investigation found that DCI shared the information with Exxon before leaking it, the source said.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-lobbyist-investigated-over-hack-and-leak-environmentalist-emails-sources-2024-11-27/