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Forbes drops bombshell on Wilbur Ross and its own reporting

11:50, Wednesday, 08 November, 2017
Forbes drops bombshell on Wilbur Ross and its own reporting

A story published by Forbes on Tuesday tracked what it portrayed as a web of deception spun by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. But the story also cast a critical shadow over Forbes' own reporting, and raises serious questions about the credibility of the magazine's widely-cited ranking of billionaires.
     The article, a 3,000-word feature written by Forbes reporter Dan Alexander, alleges that Ross repeatedly embellished his net worth by crediting himself with his investors' money. Alexander's digging apparently began last month, when the magazine told Ross that he was being taken off The Forbes 400, an annual ranking of the richest people in America.
     Financial disclosure forms filed after Ross' nomination to the Commerce Department showed he had less than $700 million in assets, far lower than the $2.9 billion Forbes had listed as his net worth a year earlier. And Alexander claims he ultimately found that Ross had been inflating his worth dating back to 2004, when he had first cracked The Forbes 400.
     "It seems clear that Ross lied to us, the latest in an apparent sequence of fibs, exaggerations, omissions, fabrications and whoppers that have been going on with Forbes since 2004," Alexander wrote.

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