Exxon Mobil has spent more than two decades sparring with activists over climate change.

Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp, during the Summit on Methane and Other Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases on day three of the COP28 climate conference at Expo City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023.

Exxon Mobil storage tank in Baytown. Exxon Mobil faces its biggest challenge yet from activist investors who have long pressured the U.S. oil giant to address more urgently the growing risk of climate change to its fossil fuels business

An Israeli private detective arrested in Britain will fight a U.S. extradition request this month based on hacking and wire fraud charges involving an oil and gas firm looking for dirt on climate activists.

Amit Forlit allegedly arranged for hackers to steal private information from the accounts of hundreds of environmentalists on behalf of DCI Group, a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs and lobbying company, an investigation by the Reuters news agency uncovered.

DCI Group’s main client at the time was Exxon Mobil. DCI and Exxon have denied any wrongdoing.

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Court papers filed in Forlit’s extradition, revelations in another private detective’s conviction and the Reuters investigation provide insight into a new world of corporate dirty tricks. The case also raises questions about Exxon’s long history of using contractors to maintain plausible deniability.

This story begins with activists and Democratic attorneys general pursuing a legal strategy to........

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