In a move that is potentially transformative, the New York attorney general is investigating Exxon for financial fraud.

The company made public statements questioning the science of climate change in years past, even as its own in-house scientists informed company executives that precisely the opposite was the case. Put in simpler terms, the New York investigation is exploring whether the company lied to investors and consumers in order to place its own profits ahead of the public good.

But while the case focuses specifically on Exxon’s activities, its impact will be felt by many other corporations accused of misleading the public and investors.

‘Bending’ science

Numerous authors have documented the ways that companies and other parties “bend” science to advance their goals. For example, investigative accounts reveal how companies hire researchers to conduct research with a specific end in mind to bolster their own self-serving positions. These actors can also hire skeptic scientists (“merchants of doubt”) to poke holes in unwelcome research—“manufacturing doubt,” as David Michaels put it in his book on this corporate technique.

Some companies even attack individual researchers professionally for producing research that is unwelcome, using a range of legally sanctioned techniques such as launching “scientific misconduct” allegations, inundating the researcher with subpoenas seeking all records of ongoing and past research, harassing researchers with open records requests, or a mix of the above.