The founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Klaus Schwab, who announced his resignation as chairman of the organization’s board of trustees the day before, is suspected of financial fraud and ethical misconduct, The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the publication’s sources, the board of trustees decided to launch an investigation after receiving an anonymous letter. It said that Schwab asked employees to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs in his name and used forum funds to pay for massages at hotels. Schwab’s wife Hilda held “symbolic” meetings within the forum to justify expensive vacations at the organization’s expense, the letter claims.
The WEF said that it took the information seriously, but so far it has not been proven, and the board will wait for the results of the investigation to give a more detailed comment.
The Schwabs deny all the allegations, and the WEF founder intends to sue the sender of the letter and “anyone who spreads these lies,” a representative for the couple told the newspaper. According to him, Schwab always returned the forum’s funds borrowed to pay for the massage.
The letter also expresses concern about how Schwab treated female WEF employees and how the forum’s management has failed to respond to cases of sexual harassment and discrimination against women and blacks for decades, which the WSJ reported last year. In March, the WEF said that an investigation had not confirmed these allegations, but had found “problems in leadership and management … that do not meet established standards.” The forum then promised to help “create a workplace where all employees feel valued and respected.”
Schwab said in early April that he intended to step down once a successor was found. The Financial Times wrote that the process was supposed to be completed by 2027, but it was accelerated by the investigation.
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