The World Economic Forum said Wednesday that it had opened an investigation into fraud allegations against its founder, Klaus Schwab, which allegedly resulted in his resignation.
Klaus Schwab was the driving force behind the World Economic Forum becoming an annual gathering of the world’s wealthy and influential people. Schwab, 87, who has been greeting presidents and tycoons for decades at the annual forum held at the Swiss resort of Davos, said the accusations were unfounded. In a statement to the Swiss newspaper Blick, he added that he had launched a defamation procedure.
In a statement confirming the Wall Street Journal report, the WEF said its board of trustees “unanimously supported the decision of the Audit and Risk Committee to launch an independent investigation into the whistleblowing letter containing the allegations against former President Klaus Schwab.” The old leader of the forum suddenly resigned on Monday, “with immediate effect”. In a statement at the time, the WEF board of directors welcomed Schwab’s “outstanding achievements” under his 55-year leadership. However, the WSJ reported that the move was prompted by the board’s decision to investigate Schwab and his wife, Hilde’s financial and ethical misconduct.
“Extraordinary session”
The letter, which was allegedly sent by anonymous current and former WEF staff, “contained allegations that Klaus Schwab had asked junior employees to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs on his behalf and had used Forum funds to pay for private, in-room massages at hotels,” wrote the WSJ, which said it had seen the letter, and talked to people who knew the matter. He also claimed that his wife used meetings funded by the Forum “to justify a luxury vacation at the organization’s expense,” the paper said. In the letter, the whistleblower reportedly expressed concern about Schwab’s treatment of female employees and that her management allegedly allowed cases of sexual harassment and discriminatory behavior to go unchecked. Schwab did not respond to a statement to Blick that said: “These accusations have no basis.”
“It’s a pure and simple lie (to say) that I asked young employees to take thousands of dollars from auto dealers for me,” Schwab added. He said that all personal expenses incurred during his business trips were reimbursed and he started defamation proceedings. At an extraordinary meeting of the board of trustees on Sunday, he decided to launch an investigation, and Schwab decided to resign immediately. In a subsequent statement, the WEF said its decision was made “after consultation with external legal counsel and in accordance with the Forum’s fiduciary responsibility.”
“While the forum takes these claims seriously, it emphasizes that they remain unproven and awaits the outcome of the investigation to make further commentary.”
Network Demo
Schwab resigned as executive president last year, and Norway’s former foreign minister, Borge Brende, took over the day-to-day management. Schwab said the handover will last until January 2027. The WEF said its vice president, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, will serve as interim president while the commission looks for a permanent successor for Schwab.
Schwab was born in Ravensburg, Germany, on March 30, 1938. He studied at universities in Switzerland and Harvard in the United States, holds doctorates in engineering and economics, as well as more than a dozen honorary doctorates.
He was a little-known professor of business at the University of Geneva when he founded the WEF’s predecessor, the European Management Forum, in 1971. The first meeting was attended by less than 500 participants, since However, the event has attracted thousands every year. Schwab expanded the conclave by inviting political and business leaders, representatives of trade unions and civil society, and put together a prestigious Rolodex while transforming the gathering into a networking show.
The WEF maintains that it will provide “a global, impartial and non-profit platform for meaningful stakeholder engagement to build trust and build initiatives for collaboration and development.”
“Davos Man”
Critics, meanwhile, accuse WEF meetings of simply creating a safe space for the globalist world to lobby governments unattended. The annual event promoted the concept of the “Davos man,” referring to the mass of the moving elite with global influence and reach. And Schwab and the organization he founded have long been at the center of conspiracy theories.
Elon Musk, the multibillionaire owner of X, said on the platform that Schwab “wants to be the emperor of the Earth.” The WEF topped the list of short-term global risks of misinformation and disinformation in its latest risk report.