Most Americans would be proud to be portrayed as working to counter environmental problems…but not the billionaire Koch brothers. Angry over a joke press release pretending to come from them, Charles and David Koch are suing those responsible for the prank in an effort to find out their real identities.

 

The phony announcement was sent out in December by a group claiming to be Koch Industries, the oil processing company owned by the Koch brothers, who are key Republican donors and serious opponents of the global warming issue. The release (“Koch Industries Announces New Environmental Commitments”) stated that after “a recent internal and thorough company review,” the company would be “restructuring its support of climate change research and advocacy initiatives.”

 

The Koch brothers filed a lawsuit in a Utah federal court to discover who was behind the stunt and to win damages for “costs associated with spending time and money to respond to inquiries about the fake release,” as well as “investigative and legal expenses” in pursuing the tricksters.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

A Conglomerate’s Tack to Quash a Parody Site (by Noam Cohen, New York Times)

Utah Lawsuit over Fake Koch News Release Challenged (by Tom Harvey, Salt Lake Tribune)

Koch Industries v. John Does (U.S. District Court, Central Utah) (pdf)