On Tuesday, political outsider and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy received a letter from the World Economic Forum (WEF), in which the organization apologized for listing him without permission on its list of “Young Global Leaders” in 2021, and agreed to pay an undisclosed settlement for the resulting harm that was caused.
I've been the leading opponent in America of the World Economic Forum's agenda, through two books & my most recent company Strive which finally put BlackRock & the ESG movement on their back foot. Two years ago, WEF tried to throw false bait by naming me a “Young Global Leader”… pic.twitter.com/wRVhLc3x9B
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 1, 2023
“I have been the leading opponent in America of the World Economic Forum’s agenda, through two books and my most recent company, Strive, which finally put BlackRock and the ESG movement on their back foot,” said Vivek Ramaswamy. “Two years ago, the WEF tried to throw false bait by naming me a ‘Young Global Leader’ when I explicitly rejected their ridiculous award. They repeatedly failed to remove my name despite escalating demands, so I sued them. And we just succeeded. They met all of my demands in the lawsuit: a public apology, disavowal, and a commitment to never name someone again without their explicit permission. I will direct my financial damages in the settlement to the America First Policy Institute, which I have proudly supported in the past because it stands for American interests against the WEF agenda. The Great Uprising will defeat the Great Reset – just like we did in 1776.”
Ramaswamy instructed all proceeds from the WEF settlement to be sent to the America First Policy Institute. The settlement amount will remain undisclosed.
The letter from WEF’s legal team reads as follows:
“We write on behalf of the World Economic Forum in reference to the civil action you have filed, in which you complain about harms resulting from your being named without your consent on a list of Young Global Leaders (YGL) for 2021. We write to apologize for this mistake. The Forum nominated you in 2021 as a YGL and, accordingly, listed you in several documents on its website. Shortly thereafter, the Forum learned that you did not wish to participate in its YGL program. The Forum then took steps to remove references to your name from its YGL lists, but inadvertently failed to remove your name from all publications on its website. The Forum acknowledges that this continued inclusion on a YGL document may have incorrectly implied an association with the Forum, and for that reason, the Forum apologizes for its unintentional error. In early 2022, the Forum changed its internal processes so that no future ‘Young Global Leaders’ would be included on its list without their consent.”
Despite Ramaswamy expressly and repeatedly telling the WEF for two years that he did not want to be a part of their ‘Young Global Leaders’ program, the organization ignored his requests and included him anyway. In April, Ramaswamy sued the WEF after they refused to completely remove his name and photo from their website.
