The Trump administration has convinced a British court to extradite a man accused of hacking environmentalists who support climate change lawsuits — even as it moves to block such litigation in two states.
A U.K. magistrate last week approved the extradition of Amit Forlit, an Israeli citizen whom U.S. prosecutors have targeted as part of an investigation into a worldwide hacking ring that operated from 2012 to 2019.
Forlit’s attorneys in January publicly linked the oil giant Exxon Mobil and the lobbying firm DCI Group to what prosecutors have described as a hacking campaign to steal information from environmental activists who have helped U.S. states and cities sue energy companies for contributing to climate change.
The local governments are seeking billions of dollars from oil companies, including Exxon, accusing them of misleading consumers about the dangers of burning fossil fuels.
