World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab is under investigation by the organization he created after a new whistleblower letter alleged financial and ethical misconduct by the longtime leader and his wife.

The anonymous letter was sent last week to the Forum’s board and raised concerns about the Forum’s governance and workplace culture, including allegations that the Schwab family mixed their personal affairs with the Forum’s resources without proper oversight, according to the letter and people familiar with the matter.

It included allegations that Klaus Schwab asked junior employees to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs on his behalf and used Forum funds to pay for private, in-room massages at hotels. It also alleged that his wife Hilde, a former Forum employee, scheduled “token” Forum-funded meetings in order to justify luxury holiday travel at the organization’s expense.

Klaus Schwab in recent days argued against an investigation, telling board members that he denied the unsubstantiated allegations and that he would challenge them in a lawsuit, the people said.

The board of trustees decided to open a probe during an emergency meeting on Easter Sunday. Schwab opted to resign immediately as the chairman, instead of staying on for an extended transition period as previously planned.

The Schwabs said through a spokesman that they deny every allegation in the whistleblower complaint. To protect their reputation, Klaus Schwab intends to file a lawsuit against whoever is behind the anonymous letter and “anybody who spreads these mistruths,” the spokesman said.

Whenever Schwab charged massages at a hotel to the Forum while on travel, he’d always pay the Forum back, the spokesman said. Schwab and his wife denied the allegations about luxury travel and withdrawing money.

In a statement, the Forum said its board unanimously supported the decision to initiate an independent investigation “following a whistleblower letter containing allegations against former Chairman Klaus Schwab. This decision was made after consultation with external legal counsel.”

The Forum said it takes “these allegations seriously, but they remain unproven, and will await the outcome of the investigation to comment further.”

The letter also raises concerns about how Klaus Schwab treated female employees and how his leadership over decades allegedly allowed instances of sexual harassment and other discriminatory behavior to go unchecked in the workplace, allegations that were raised in a Wall Street Journal article and previously investigated by the Forum. The Forum disputed the Journal’s reporting at the time, and Schwab denied the allegations against him.

For the full article visit MSN; original story published on The Wall Street Journal.