Bill Ackman Refutes Plagiarism Claims Against Wife, Says He Didn't Use Wikipedia As Source But For Definition Of 15 Words

Bill Ackman, billionaire hedge fund manager, said that they used the Wayback Machine in order to refute allegations of plagiarism against his wife, Neri Oxman, in a long-format post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday. 

What Happened: Ackman said that the lawyers for the couple used the Wayback Machine, an internet archive tool, to scrutinize the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT’s plagiarism policy during Oxman’s dissertation period in 2009. 

Ackman said that their research revealed that MIT did not enforce citation of Wikipedia or even acknowledge it until 2013, four years after Oxman completed her thesis.

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The tweet was in response to plagiarism allegations against Oxman by Business Insider, which also reportedly used the Wayback Machine to examine MIT’s policy. Ackman emphasized that Oxman only used Wikipedia for the definitions of 15 words/terms in her dissertation, which did not breach the plagiarism policy at that time.

He went on to target Axel Springer SE, saying the company had not updated their statement despite these new revelations. 

Why It Matters: This development comes in the wake of a series of accusations and defenses involving plagiarism in the academic world. Benzinga previously reported that Ackman had mitigated his stance on plagiarism, stating that authors are bound to miss some citations or fail to attribute another author adequately.

Ackman’s celebrity academic wife was accused of plagiarizing sections of her doctoral dissertation. The allegations were made amidst Ackman’s campaign against academic plagiarism, including calling for the dismissal of Claudine Gay, Harvard’s then-president, over similar allegations. 

Meanwhile, Ackman had also announced a review of the works of all current MIT faculty, including its president, board and other officers, following the accusations against his wife.

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This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.