Forbes and Shook Research Suspend Rankings Amid Investigation of $6 Million Payment

Forbes and Shook Research, a major partner of the magazine, said on Tuesday that they would suspend the rankings and events they produced together as they dealt with the widening fallout from a $6 million payment from the firm’s founder to the publication’s top editor.Forbes and Shook Research have worked together for years to publish rankings of the top wealth advisers in the United States.They have also produced an annual summit in Las Vegas, which was scheduled this year for mid-October and in the past drew executives from top financial firms, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock and Apollo.The New York Times reported this month that Forbes’s top editor, Randall Lane, had been fired after the publication learned that he had taken a $6 million payment from RJ Shook, the founder of Shook Research.

Mr.Shook said on Monday that he had paid Mr.

Lane for services that included helping to sell a controlling stake in Shook Research to a private equity firm, PPC Enterprises, last August.Mr.Lane has described the payment as a “gift” and said that failing to disclose it to Forbes was a “serious error in judgment.” Mr.

Shook left Shook Research sometime after the sale.Sherry Phillips, the chief executive of Forbes, said in a memo to employees on Tuesday that the suspension of the magazine’s activities with Shook would last through the end of the year.“We remain confident in the integrity of the rankings, but we recognize that there is a need to restore trust with the adviser community, partners and audiences,” Ms.Phillips said in a statement.

“Our focus is now on strengthening our program for the road ahead, and to meet the standard our readers and the adviser community expect and deserve.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for a...