Let Them Fight! Australian Mining Billionaire Slams Exxon Over Claim That He Smeared Them In Company's Defamation Suit

[hatrack]

Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest is among a group accused of orchestrating “smear campaigns and lawfare” against the global oil and gas sector “for politics, publicity, and private gain” in a dramatic defamation claim launched in US courts by fossil fuel company ExxonMobil. But the iron ore billionaire, who is not himself a defendant in the case, said he is “personally delighted” at the court action and that “Exxon has walked themselves into the court and opened themselves up to cross-examination”.

ExxonMobil’s suit accuses the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, and several environmental groups of conspiring to defame it by making statements criticising its plastics recycling technology. Bonta sued ExxonMobil last year, saying the company had engaged in decades-long deception about the limitations of its plastics recycling regime. A Forrest-linked charity, the Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund (IEJF), is a named defendant in the suit, alongside US environmental groups the Sierra Club, San Francisco Baykeeper, Heal the Bay, and the Surfrider Foundation. The California-based groups have filed a countersuit against ExxonMobil.

EDIT

Forrest is not a defendant in the case, but is mentioned by name more than 20 times in the claim filed before the court, including allegations he harboured a “dream of upending the American oil-and-gas industry”. Forrest issued a statement saying he welcomed the lawsuit, which he described as “right out of the oil and gas industry playbook”. “I am personally delighted Exxon has walked themselves into the court and opened themselves up to cross-examination,” Forrest said. He said the fossil industry was living on “borrowed time”. “The fossil fuel industry is ­getting increasingly desperate at maintaining its toxic grip on ­society. Their only priority is to maximise their profits and ­produce as much oil and gas as possible.”

EDIT

Minderoo, in a statement, rejected Exxon’s characterisation of its relationship with IEFJ: “Minderoo is a philanthropy which is independent of the Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund.” A spokesperson for Minderoo said it was committed to reducing the production of plastics which have a devastating impact on human health. “In 2021, Minderoo published the Plastic Waste Makers index, which revealed the largest contributors to the global plastics crisis, finding that just 20 companies … were responsible for producing more than 50% of single use plastic worldwide. ExxonMobil topped the list of polymer producers,” the spokesperson said.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/09/andrew-forrest-exxonmobil-court-defamation-lawsuit-ntwnfb

[Lovie777]

1. Billionaires, already at each other throats....................

unfortunately, we will be in the middle of it.