WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors say that an Israeli private investigator used hackers to steal emails from climate activists who were campaigning against American energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp.

In a sentencing memo filed on Thursday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, for the Southern District of New York, said that Exxon's lawyers cited media articles based on the stolen emails in an effort to parry investigations launched in 2015 and 2016 by U.S. state attorneys general. (Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Leslie Adler)