Labowitz, a co-founder and co-director of New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, told The Huffington Post that she has studied many companies facing serious public criticism, often in her field of human rights. For the most part, she said, “they don’t shoot the messenger ― which is what Exxon is doing.” ... [In] November 2015...New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed the oil giant to obtain documents related to allegations that it had lied to the public and its investors about the risks of climate change. In March, a coalition of state attorneys general, including Maura Healey of Massachusetts, pledged to crack down on corporate climate fraud [including at ExxonMobil]... In June, Exxon hit back, filing a lawsuit against Healey in...Texas in an effort to bar a civil investigative demand from her office. Shortly thereafter, Labowitz told HuffPost, the company began advancing a conspiracy argument that she finds particularly troubling...arguing the investigations by the New York and Massachusetts AGs were “biased attempts to further a political agenda for financial gain.” The company claimed that “revelations...about secret and deliberately concealed collaboration with anti-oil and gas activists and a private law firm” had shown the AGs were...“attempting to silence political opponents.” ...Exxon Mobil then turned its attention to non-governmental organizations, including the Union of Concerned Scientists,...[and hinting] at future subpoenas.