They knew the hockey stick was junk science but kept it a secret.
From the Climaetgate 2.0 collection, Swiss researcher Heinz Wanner writes,
In my [IPCC-TAR] review […] I crit[i]cized […] the Mann hockey[s]tick […] My review was classified “unsignificant” even I inquired several times. Now the internationally well known newspaper SPIEGEL got the information about these early statements because I expressed my opinion in several talks, mainly in Germany, in 2002 and 2003. I just refused to give an exclusive interview to SPIEGEL because I will not cause damage for climate science.
So you can rest easy, Heinz, the climate mob won’t make you sleep with the fishes.