Delusions of Wilbur

Lied about billionaire status: Forbes

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been falsely claiming that he’s a billionaire for more than a decade, Forbes alleged in an explosive report.

The 79-year-old dealmaker has long been a fixture on the Forbes 400 list of America’s richest, with his net worth last year pegged by the magazine at $2.9 billion.

But in a blistering report Tuesday, Forbes said it was “intent on removing him entirely,” as financial disclosure forms he filed after his nomination to President Trump’s cabinet showed less than $700 million in assets.

“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,” Forbes staffer Dan Alexander wrote Tuesday.

When Forbes challenged Ross about his White House disclosures, the magazine said the veteran investor contended that he had created trusts for his family worth “more than $2 billion” that weren’t included in the filings, according to the article.

But after “one month of digging,” Forbes said it is now confident that “that money never existed.”

Ross told Forbes that the $2 billion in question was transferred to those trusts “between the election and the nomination,” according to Tuesday’s article.

But the Commerce Department then told Forbes in a statement that “there was no major asset transfer to a trust in the period between the election and Secretary Ross’s confirmation.”

The Forbes article went on to report that Ross has exploited his supposed billionaire status to attract business.

“Really, for us, it was a bet on him,’’ said Sam Green, who helped put $300 million into Ross’ funds on be- half of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, citing his personal wealth as one factor. “I don’t know of any better indicator of future success than having been successful in the past.”

Forbes said Ross also has a pattern of misleading colleagues and investors that has led to millions of dollars in fines and tens of millions in refunds to backers, as well as numerous lawsuits.

“Wilbur doesn’t have an issue with bending the truth,” David Wax — who worked alongside Ross for 25 years and served as the No. 3 person in his firm — told Forbes.

Ross couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the Forbes report.

Despite Tuesday’s article, Ross is still listed on Forbes’ “The World’s Billionaires” list on its Web site with a reported net worth of $2.5 billion.