Business Insider to reconsider plagiarism investigation into Bill Ackman’s wife

There is an ever-widening circle of people currently caught up in investigations into plagiarism in academia, the most notable of which are former Harvard University president Claudine Gay and MIT scholar Neri Ochs. Mann is under fire for allegedly plagiarizing his own academic papers. The allegations were made public in a Business Insider investigation, but the company’s parent company, Axel Springer, is conducting its own internal investigation into how the article came about.

Oxman also runs a startup and is the wife of hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. Bill Ackman led an investigation into Gay’s plagiarism that ultimately led to his resignation. Ackman questioned why the media was investigating his wife. Semafor reports that Business Insider’s owners have questioned whether the article was newsworthy, given that Oxman was born and raised in Israel, and whether the motivation for writing it was anti-Semitic. He is said to be one of the people who doubts whether or not it ever happened.

In an email to staff, Insider’s global editor-in-chief, Nicholas Carlson, said he supported the article, while Ackman and his colleagues “expressed concerns not only about the motives for publishing the article, but also about our reporting process. “There is,” he pointed out.

“Neither Oxman nor her husband Bill Ackman dispute the facts of the story,” Carlson wrote. He also said that he personally called for both articles on Oxman to be published, but that the articles appeared to reveal uncited plagiarism from Wikipedia, textbooks, and other academic works.

“I stand by our story and the work that goes into it,” Carlson continues. “I know our processes were sound. I know our newsroom is motivated by truth and accountability.”

As far as research goes, Carlson writes: “My colleagues at Axel Springer asked me to investigate the process leading up to publication of the article to ensure it met our standards. We welcome any kind of review of our work, as we believe it will reassure our colleagues, readers and other stakeholders in our editorial office.”