A Forbes spokeswoman issued the following statement on Monday:
Randall Lane’s acceptance of the undisclosed payment by RJ Shook was unacceptable and is inconsistent with our policies and principles of trust, transparency, and disclosure. No individual—regardless of title, tenure or contributions—is above those standards. Upon verifying the incident, we took action and immediately fired Mr. Lane. We are exploring all appropriate actions to hold Mr. Lane to full account.
We continue to work with outside counsel to engage in an independent and careful review of the facts including our wealth advisors lists to ensure that they fully comply with our governance policies and journalistic standards. While that work continues, we have not found evidence that the integrity of the rankings or editorial integrity was ever compromised.
