Exxon Mobil Corp.’s lawyer slammed New York’s securities-fraud case as the trial opened, saying the state “twisted” reality by conflating two internal metrics the company uses to account for the financial impact of climate change on its business. Instead, Exxon has evidence proving the two metrics were used for different purposes and were never intended to be public, refuting New York’s claims that the differing numbers were kept to give the public a falsely rosy picture of the company’s financial health, attorney Theodore Wells said Tuesday. “This is like no other securities fraud case in the history of the country,” Wells said in his opening statement in a crowded Manhattan courtroom. “You cannot have a securities fraud case that has absolutely nothing to do with the public books and records of a corporation.” Environmental […]