DALLAS (AP) – The New York attorney general says that while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was CEO of Exxon he used an alias in emails to talk about climate change.
The attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, made the accusation in a letter to a New York court Monday. He is investigating whether the company deceived investors and the public by hiding for decades what it knew about the link between fossil fuels and climate change.
Schneiderman said Exxon failed to disclose that Tilleson used an account named “Wayne Tracker” to send and receive emails about issues including risk management related to climate change. Wayne is Tillerson’s middle name. The account was used from at least 2008 through 2015, he says.
Exxon Mobil spokesman Alan Jeffers said the email account was created for secure and quick communication between Tillerson and senior executives over a range of topics.
The State Department declined to comment on the matter and referred inquiries to Exxon. Tillerson resigned as chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. at year end, after then-President-elect Donald Trump picked him to become the nation’s chief diplomat.