Forbes Fires Randall Lane Over Undisclosed $6 Million Payment, Eyes No Lawsuit

3 articles · Updated · Fortune · Aug 13

July brought Randall Lane’s dismissal after Forbes learned he had taken about $6 million from RJ Shook, whose SHOOK Research has partnered with Forbes on adviser rankings since 2016.
PPC Enterprises’ review of SHOOK emails after buying a majority stake last August surfaced the payment, and Forbes fired Lane after confronting him; Lane called it a personal gift and a serious disclosure failure.
New York employment lawyer Richard Friedman said the payment likely justified termination under Forbes policies, fiduciary-duty principles and the state’s “faithless servant” doctrine, even if it may not violate criminal law.
Forbes could theoretically seek clawbacks of Lane’s compensation, but Friedman said the company will probably avoid suing to limit further publicity around an embarrassing conflict-of-interest case.