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A Bloomberg-backed legal operation that paid the salaries of climate lawyers inside Democrat attorneys general offices has quietly shut down following years of congressional and legal scrutiny.

Connecticut took full advantage of that program. Attorney General William Tong’s office used it to staff high-profile environmental litigation, including the state’s signature case against ExxonMobil.

The State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, housed at the NYU School of Law and seeded with millions from Bloomberg’s family foundation, placed “fellows” in Democrat-controlled AG offices nationwide. While these lawyers were paid by NYU, their work was directed entirely by the respective state attorneys general.

Critics frequently characterized the arrangement as "law enforcement for hire." The center's closure came with no press release or social media announcement; instead, the center’s website now quietly labels its content as “historical material as it existed on August 31, 2026,” and its leadership no longer lists the group as a current employer.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer opened a probe into the operation in 2025, arguing the arrangement allowed a partisan billionaire to bankroll official functions of state law enforcement. Wisconsin also opened its own inquiry and faced a lawsuit over a $90,000 fellow. Connecticut was an eager participant in the program.

In 2019, Tong’s office applied for an NYU fellow and later received two: Benjamin Cheney, a UConn Law graduate, and Kaelah Smith. NYU covered their salaries while they served as special assistant attorneys general on clean energy, climate, and environmental matters. Cheney appears on Connecticut’s September 2020 Exxon complaint; the state hired him full-time in 2021 and he is still on the state's payroll. Smith worked other environmental files, including a DEEP-related dock case in Branford.

This arrangement meant that a private donor, Michael Bloomberg, funded lawyers sitting inside the state’s chief law office to work on cases that presumably matched Bloomberg's own national climate agenda. The center maintained that the fellows’ “sole duty of loyalty” ran to the AG.

Capital Research Center and other watchdogs listed Connecticut among at least 11 states plus D.C. that hosted Bloomberg-funded fellows — Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin.

As late as February 2025, Tong’s office was still advertising another two-year “Special Assistant Attorney General – Environmental Fellow,” with salary and benefits to be paid by NYU. The operation that wrote those checks is now closed, but the Exxon case is still ongoing. The difference is that Connecticut taxpayers now foot the salary bill instead of Bloomberg.

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