By He’s going to have to eat bugs all by himself now. The World Economic Forum said that on Tuesday, it launched an internal investigation into Klaus Schwab, its founder and longtime executive chairman, after receiving an anonymous whistleblower letter accusing him of misconduct.
The announcement came one day after Schwab, 87, suddenly resigned from his leadership role without explanation. In a brief statement, the WEF said it’s taking the allegations seriously but noted they remain unproven.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the probe, says the whistleblower letter claims Schwab and his family mixed personal matters with Forum business, raising questions about how the WEF is run and what kind of culture it fosters behind the scenes.
“The anonymous letter was sent last week to the Forum’s board and raised concerns about the Forum’s governance and workplace culture, including allegations that the Schwab family mixed their personal affairs with the Forum’s resources without proper oversight, according to the letter and people familiar with the matter.
It included allegations that Klaus Schwab asked junior employees to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs on his behalf and used Forum funds to pay for private, in-room massages at hotels. It also alleged that his wife Hilde, a former Forum employee, scheduled ‘token’ Forum-funded meetings in order to justify luxury holiday travel at the organization’s expense.”
The Forum declined to share more about the specific allegations and said it won’t comment further until the investigation is complete.
Schwab and the WEF have long had plans for the rest of us, wrote New Conservative Post, in 2022.
In 1971, Klaus Schwab founded what is now the World Economic Forum by arguing that the management of a modern enterprise needed to serve both “shareholders and corporate stakeholders to achieve long-term growth and prosperity.” Following the economic crash of 2008, “the three most senior leaders of the WEF – Klaus Schwab, its Executive Chairman; Mark Malloch-Brown , then its Vice-Chairman; and Richard Samans, its Managing Director – initiated and led a major re-think of global governance.”
They called this plan the ominously named “Global Redesign” and argued that world affairs would be best managed via a “self-selected coalition of multinational corporations, governments (including through the UN system), and select civil society organizations.”
This has been Schwab’s driving motive for the WEF for much of his life, and in his opening speech at this year’s meeting, he made no qualms about it, saying, “The future is not just happening. The future is built by us, by a powerful community such as you here in this room. We have the means to improve the state of the world.”
A spokesperson for the Schwab family denied the accusations and told the Journal that Schwab plans to sue the whistleblower and anyone helping to spread what the family calls lies.
The claims have added to growing criticism of the WEF, whose annual summit in Davos draws top business and political leaders but also faces backlash for being out of touch with everyday people. Past complaints about a toxic work culture have also surfaced—allegations the WEF has denied.
In recent years, the Forum has hired outside legal experts to examine its internal policies, especially after reports of harassment and discrimination. The new probe into Schwab may be part of those broader efforts to restore trust and improve transparency.
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