What began with
an investigation by NY AG Eric Schneiderman, later
joined by California AG Kamala Harris, has become a multistate
AG investigation into Exxon's knowledge of the contributions of
fossil fuels to climate change going back as far as 1977. On March
29, 2016, AGs from Massachusetts and the Virgin Islands announced
that they were joining with the NY and CA AGs. Significantly, the
announcement came at a press conference in which the AGs of fifteen
states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands
pledged support for the Obama administration's Clean Power
Plan.
AG Schneiderman's investigation, announced in November 2015,
contemplated use of the Martin Act, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 352,
a 1921 statute that grants very broad authority to the NY AG to
investigate any suspected "device, scheme or artifice to
defraud," or "deception, misrepresentation, concealment,
suppression, fraud, false pretense or false promise" related
to the sale of securities or
