World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab made unauthorized purchases for expenses and behaved inappropriately toward female colleagues during his time at the organization, according to an internal probe reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Investigators found that the 87-year-old professor spent WEF funds on expenses such as hotel massages and made the WEF into a “fiefdom” for his personal gain, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The probe’s scathing preliminary findings deepen the rift between Schwab and his Switzerland-based organization, which is known for hosting panels featuring international elites to discuss how to advance policy priorities such as combating “disinformation” and climate change.
The probe labeled more than $1.1 million in purchases by Schwab and his wife using WEF funds as suspicious, The Wall Street Journal reported. The expenses included first-class flights for trips in which his wife had no business role, 14 hotel massages and trips to places like Venice, Italy, that appeared to have no business purpose. Schwab’s spokesperson told the outlet that he always asked to be billed for massages, but the WEF reportedly said he ended up paying for about half of them.
Schwab and his wife also allegedly received luxury gifts such as custom Tiffany cufflinks and Russian tea sets in violation of WEF policies. Schwab’s spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that he donated most of the gifts in question to charity or displayed them at the WEF’s headquarters.
The professor’s alleged behavior included a late night June 2020 email to a female executive that said, “Do you feel that I am thinking of you,” the WEF reportedly found. Schwab’s spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that such conduct does not reflect his character and that he merely meant to be a father figure to employees.
In addition to broadly denying the WEF’s allegations, Schwab filed a criminal complaint against his accusers in Geneva, Switzerland, in May. Schwab and the WEF did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
The WEF scrutinized Schwab’s workplace behavior over the past decade following a whistleblower complaint that prompted the probe in April.
Schwab announced in May 2024 that he was stepping down as executive chairman of the WEF to a lower, non-executive position, winding down his influence over the organization. He resigned from the WEF entirely in April.
“Even if I am no longer part of it, I deeply hope the Forum will remain a trusted bridge-builder in a divided world,” Schwab told The Wall Street Journal.
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