California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Thursday announced his office has opened investigations into reports of price-gouging in the Southern California areas ravaged by devastating wildfires. “We have boots on the ground conducting investigations as we speak,” he said in a Thursday press conference.

In the plainest of terms, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Thursday that the hammer will come down on those who attempt to take advantage of the victims of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

The oil giant ExxonMobil this week sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleging that the state’s chief lawyer has been motivated by “foreign influence, personal ambition, and a murky source of financing rife with conflicting business interests.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned against price gouging amid the state’s wildfires in a Los Angeles press conference on Thursday (January 16), declaring the state’s Department of Justice had opened multiple investigations.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta spoke out about his department's efforts to combat scammers after these fires.