ExxonMobil sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta for defamation. What did he say?

The oil giant ExxonMobil this week sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleging that the state’s chief lawyer has been motivated by “foreign influence, personal ambition, and a murky source of financing rife with conflicting business interests.”

The ExxonMobil lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges Bonta and a collection of environmental groups engaged in business disparagement, defamation, interference with prospective business relationships and contracts and civil conspiracy.

“This suit is about a state office holder’s abuse of the public trust,” the complaint begins. “It is also case about the corrupting influence of foreign money in the American legal system and about the sordid for-profit incentives and outright greed that tries to hide behind so-called public impact litigation.”

The lawsuit contends that Bonta and the named environmental groups launched a smear campaign against the oil giant “for politics, publicity, and private gain.”

In a statement to The Bee, a California Department of Justice spokesperson called the lawsuit “another attempt from ExxonMobil to deflect attention from its own unlawful deception. The Attorney General is proud to advance his lawsuit against ExxonMobil and looks forward to vigorously litigating this case in court.”

Bonta, a Democrat, is said to be considering a run for governor in 2026.

ExxonMobil is seeking unspecified monetary damages from Bonta and the other defendants, as well as a retraction and public recognition that advanced recycling “is recognized and permitted by law in multiple states, including Texas.”

The suit comes nearly four months after Bonta launched his legal challenge against ExxonMobil, alleging that the oil corporation has waged a decades-long “campaign of deception ... that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis.”

That case, initially filed in San Francisco Superior Court, has since been moved to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the matter is ongoing.

It’s unclear why ExxonMobil filed the suit in Texas rather than California, though it may be because the company’s headquarters is in Houston.

In a statement at the time he filed his lawsuit, Bonta said that “for decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible. ExxonMobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health.”

The oil company’s complaint seeks to tell a different story.

It states that for decades, California has “pioneered the promotion and encouragement of recycling.”

That includes Bonta, who 10 years ago as an Alameda City Council member voted to require residents to sort their waste for collection and recycling, according to the complaint.

Then, “in a staggering reversal and in coordinated effort,” Bonta and environmental groups changed course and are now “attacking a Texas corporation for its advanced recycling operations-operations that are part of the solution to plastic waste, not the problem,” the complaint reads.

The complaint alleges Bonta has attacked ExxonMobil in his personal capacity “to raise money for his political campaign,” and alleges that foreign lawyers associated with the legal effort against ExxonMobil “have also developed deep financial ties” to the attorney general.

“This is also hardly Bonta’s first experience with questionable methods of campaign finance delivered by outside influences seeking political favors. Bonta has previously raised money from the owners of a California waste management company who are now embroiled in an FBI investigation involving ‘pay-for-play’ and campaign contribution laundering,” the complaint reads, adding that Bonta returned the money after the investigation became public.

The complaint cites a Politico story about how Bonta returned more than $155,100 in campaign cash that he received from the Bay Area Duong family, which owns recycling interests that is currently under FBI investigation. The returned funds represented donations Bonta had received throughout his political career. A spokesman for Bonta said that the money would be donated to charity “all out of an abundance of caution,” according to Politico.

The suit contends that ExxonMobil is continuing to invest millions in advanced recycling of plastics, alleging that this technology is proven.

“To date, ExxonMobil has recycled over 70 million pounds of plastic waste. That is 70 million pounds that might otherwise have been sent to or remained in landfills,” the complaint reads.

The company alleges Bonta’s remarks have directly impacted its business operations in Texas, that customers have refused to jointly promote advanced plastic recycling “because of defendants’ false statements,” and that potential customers have backed away from transactions for the same reason.

This story was originally published January 7, 2025 at 9:44 AM with the headline "ExxonMobil sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta for defamation. What did he say?."