January 28, 2021 - An investor in shares of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Exxon Mobil Corporation in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between November 6, 2019 and January 14, 2021.

On January 15, 2021, an article was published titled, Exxon Draws SEC Probe Over Permian Basin Asset Valuation. According to the article, the SEC is probing the Company following a whistleblower complaint. The complaint alleged that the Company forced employees working on an internal assessment to use unrealistic assumptions about how quickly its wells in the Permian Basin could be drilled to achieve a higher valuation. According to the complaint, at least one employee who complained about using the unrealistic assumptions was then fired.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) declined from $51.08 per share on January 14, 2021, to $44.53 per share on January 27, 2021.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) common shares between November 6, 2019 and January 14, 2021, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between November 6, 2019 and January 14, 2021, the Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and failed to disclose to investors that Exxon forced its employees to use unrealistic assumptions regarding the timelines for well drilling in the Permian Basin, that the foregoing assumptions served to artificially inflate the value of the Company's well operations in the Permian Basin, that the foregoing conduct, when revealed, subjected Exxon to a heightened risk of regulatory investigation and oversight, and that as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.