Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a think tank with close ties to the fossil fuel industry,153 based in Washington D.C. The CEI subpoena provides insight into the legal grounds for the Exxon investigations. ExxonMobil is suspected to have engaged in, or be engaging in, conduct constituting a civil violation of the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 14 V.I.C. § 605, by having engaged or engaging in conduct misrepresenting its knowledge of the likelihood that its products and activities have contributed and are continuing to contribute to Climate Change in order to defraud the Government of the United States Virgin Islands (''the Government") and consumers in the Virgin Islands, in violation of 14 V.I.C.§ 834 (prohibiting obtaining money by false pretenses) and 14 V.I.C. § 551 (prohibiting conspiracy to obtain money by false pretenses).154 Legal expert Sharon Eubanks, who was the Department of Justice’s lead counsel in the historic tobacco case, U.S. v. Philip Morris USA, et al.,155 suggested in a news article that “if the ongoing investigations reveal that “fossil fuel companies hid knowledge about climate change from the public, those could be held liable under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)…like Philip Morris and other cigarette companies.”156 In addition to the state attorneys general investigations, the U.S. Department of Justice has referred the Exxon matter to the FBI.157 The investigations by the attorneys general are relevant to this Petition. First, Exxon is the subject of all the investigations. Second, the Philippines and its citizens are acutely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, like the U.S. Virgin Islands for instance. If companies, such as Exxon, are found to have misled consumers and investors in the U.S. for decades, then this would have “robbed” Filipinos, and humanity as a whole, “a generation’s !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 153 J. Cushman, Think Tank With Fossil-Fuel Ties Subpoenaed in AG's Climate Inquiry, InsideClimate News, Apr. 8, 2016, http://insideclimatenews.org/news/08042016/think-tank-fossil-fuel-ties-competitive-enterprise-institutesubpoena-attorney-general-climate-change-exxon (last accessed on Apr. 19, 2016). 154 The Competitive Enterprise Institute uploaded the subpoena to its website. United States Virgin Islands Office of the Attorney General v. ExxonMobil Oil Corp., Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Subpoena in a Civil Case, Case Number 16-002469, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Apr. 4, 2016, https://cei.org/sites/default/files/CEI%20Subpoena%20from%20USVI%20AG%20Claude%20Walker%20April%20 7%202016.pdf (last accessed on Apr. 19, 2016). 155 For more information on tobacco litigation, see Public Health Law Center, Tobacco Litigation, http://publichealthlawcenter.org/topics/tobacco-control/tobacco-control-litigation (last access on Apr. 19, 2016). 156 C. von Kaenel, Critics of Exxon Draw Parallels to Big Tobacco, E&E Publishing, Dec. 9, 2015, http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/12/09/stories/1060029208 (last accessed on Apr. 19, 201). 157 P. Kadzik, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Letter to the Honorable Ted W. Lieu U. S. House of Representatives and the Honorable Mark DeSaulnier U. S. House of Representatives, Jan. 12, 2016, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2730475-DOJ-RESPONSE.html (last accessed on Apr. 19, 2016). ! 45! ! ! ! ! !