“Anti-ESG” investment firm hit with lawsuits
Hedge fund manager Vivek Ramaswamy has been climbing the presidential polls, thanks in part to his corporate successes.
Before his bid for the Republican nomination, where he’s now ranked third after Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, Ramaswamy established and led a pharmaceutical venture, Roivant, which went public in 2021. He then launched Ohio-based Strive Asset Management, a financial firm positioned as a right-leaning alternative to the ESG movement’s emphasis on investments with environmental, social, and governance consequences. Its slogan, setting it apart from ESG, is “invest in excellence.”
However, recent legal actions from two ex-employees against the financial firm and its founders, including Ramaswamy and Anson Frericks, hint at potential issues within it. These suits allege that both founders aggressively prompted staff to break securities laws. Additionally, the company may not have achieved the desired results for its “anti-ESG” ventures.
Christopher Lenzo, representing ex-EVP Joyce Rosely, told Bloomberg that Strive might’ve been more of a publicity move to advance Ramaswamy’s political aspirations rather than a genuine investment venture.
“[Strive]was founded, in retrospect, largely as a PR mechanism for the presidential campaign of Ramaswamy,” he said. “Not a lot of thought was given to running it as an investment firm.”
The lawsuits have yet to make mainstream headlines. But with an upcoming presidential debate, Ramaswamy’s history will be under the microscope. Allies of second-placed DeSantis’ are bound to focus their criticisms on third-place Ramaswamy.
Strive responded by stating its commitment to robustly defend its position, and refraining from further comments due to ongoing litigation. Tricia
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