*By Amanda Weston*
Allegations that Wilbur Ross [stole $120 million](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2018/08/06/new-details-about-wilbur-rosss-businesses-point-to-pattern-of-grifting/) from colleagues may not be enough to force Ross, the Secretary of Commerce, to lose his job, said the Forbes reporter Dan Alexander.
"Ethical issues haven't bounced people quickly in the past, and I think that Wilbur Ross really likes being in the cabinet," Alexander said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar. "I don't see him as somebody who's likely to step down because of embarrassment or anything like that. So we'll sort of see how it plays out."
Alexander's article, published Tuesday by Forbes, includes accusations made by Ross's colleagues at WL Ross & Co., including one who describe him as "a pathological liar." Alexander wrote that if half of the allegations are true, Ross could be one of the biggest grifters in U.S. history. (More than 280,000 people have read the Forbes article on its website.)
"This is the former No. 2 person in Wilbur Ross's firm saying that he stole about $4 million from him, another high-ranking employee saying that he stole $3.6 million, and then a lot of it is more complex, siphoning funds from investors or from other partners," said Alexander. "Total it all up and you get to over $120 million. That's a tremendous amount of money for anyone, but particularly for somebody like Wilbur Ross who said he was a billionaire ー and is not."
A Commerce Department spokesperson said in [a statement to Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/wilbur-ross-120-million-grift-allegations-in-bombshell-forbes-report-2018-8) that the accusations against Ross are,"based on false rumors, innuendo, and unverifiable claims."
Alexander relied on information from more than 20 people who know Ross, and details from four lawsuits, including one by David Storper, who worked under Ross for more than a decade. Had senators known about the allegations against Ross, Alexander said his confirmation hearing for Commerce Secretary may have gone differently.
As a member of the president's cabinet, Ross has to file financial disclosure forms detailing what he owns. Alexander said that past disclosures were "embarrassing" because they showed how Ross made misleading statements about his wealth.
When asked whether any of his sources had no complaints to issue about Ross, Alexander had a simple response.
"There was nobody who was willing to go on the record saying Wilbur Ross is a tremendous guy."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/commerce-secretary-wilbur-ross-accused-of-stealing-millions).
David Tafuri, Former Obama Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor & Former State Department Official, joined Cheddar News to break down the latest geopolitical stories from Beijing, amid China's human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims and yet another Russian doping scandal.
Dr. Jennifer Haythe of Columbia University's Irving Medical Center, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss the latest with the pandemic, as the debate over child safety rages amid low vaccination rates and states easing school mask mandates.
David Nelson, Chief Strategist at Belpointe, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that Wednesday's market movement shows a rotation back into the industries that were hit hard in January, but says his eyes are firmly fixed on the January CPI data set to be released Thursday.
Russia is preparing alongside Belarus for reportedly one of the largest joint military exercises ever held. Some analysts are concerned this could be a disguise for a real attack, while the Kremlin contends that the exercise is meant to confront potential "unprecedented security threats." Christian Whiton, a former State Department senior advisor, joined Cheddar News to break down the still tense situation. "While it could of course be a prelude to invasion, it seems like the Biden administration is signaling that if you look at Europeans, the Germans and Macron … who just met with Putin, they seem to be thinking that maybe this is a show of force by Russia intended at political intimidation, not actual invasion," said Whiton.
Truckers in Canada have blockaded the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing between Canada and the U.S. protesting a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Cheddar News spoke with Samir Kapadia, head of trade practice at the Vogal Group, about how this impacts trade between the two countries.
New York City is not only dealing with the ongoing pandemic, it’s also facing a surge in crime. President Biden recently traveled to New York to meet with the city’s new mayor, Eric Adams, to discuss the rise in crime and gun violence.
The president praised Mayor Adams' crimefighting agenda and unveiled a new federal initiative to curb the flow of illegal weapons from the south. Josefa Velásquez, Senior Reporter for THE CITY, joined Cheddar's Fast Forward to talk about how the mayor is battling this increase in crime in his first weeks in office.
The Democratic governors of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Oregon say they will lift mask requirements for schools in the coming weeks, reflecting a nationwide shift away from restrictions. Cheddar News speaks with internist Dr. Vivek Cherian whether it's safe to relax the regulation.
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
