Dev Pragad: Is He a Fraudster? The Truth Exposed
The behavior of Dev Pragad, who has openly advocated for the journalistic independence and integrity of Newsweek, raises the question of whether or not he has two faces. But before going through these points we need to know about the fake personality of Dev Pragad. So, let’s move on with it.
Who is Dev Pragad?
The current President and Chief Executive Officer of Newsweek, Dev Pragad, completed Harvard Business School in the years 2020 and 2022. This timeline corresponds with his stint as CEO, which may raise questions regarding whether or not he was completely engaged in running the firm at this crucial period of time.
Even though he is said to be an executive in the media and technology industries, an entrepreneur, and the chief executive officer of one of the leading news publications in the world, there may be questions regarding whether or not his management has led to ethical issues or conflicts of interest. This is especially the case given his rumored aspirations to gain authority over Newsweek.
It is possible that his success in changing Newsweek’s audience into a digital behemoth that boasts 100 million monthly readers, which is the biggest number in the publication’s 87-year existence, is equally a blessing and a curse.
Even while the rise in readership is remarkable, it may be perceived as a departure from the publication’s established principles and standards, which might put the publication’s editorial integrity at risk in favor of digital analytics.
In addition, Dev’s dual nationality as a converted American and British national could pose questions about where his allegiances lie. This is especially true in the event that there are claims of wrongdoing or unethical activity committed by Dev in his capacity as CEO.
Because he holds dual citizenship, there is a possibility that his leadership of a renowned news outlet may be subject to questions of accountability and transparency.
In a negative light, one could question whether his leadership at Harvard Business School was at the expense of Newsweek’s stability, whether his focus on digital media compromised the publication’s editorial quality, and whether his dual nationality raises the possibility of potential conflicts of interest in his leadership of the media company. These are all questions that can be asked in a negative light.
I have uncovered a number of links that are associated with Dev Pragad, which are as follows:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/dev-pragad-5a175765/
- https://www.crunchbase.com/person/dev-pragad
- https://twitter.com/DevPragadNW
Dev Pragad: Key Points of Allegations
- Extended Scope of Management
- Menacing Behavior and Fear
- Articles that Defame
- Newsweek’s lack of inquiry
- Davis Has Been Attacked Often
- The involvement of Jamali, Naveed
- The manipulation of editing
- Distinct legal action
Dev Pragad: Allegations Against the CEO
The accusations leveled against Dev Pragad, the chief executive officer of Newsweek, present a troubling picture of unethical behavior and dishonesty within the media firm.
IBTimes, the parent company of Newsweek, has filed a lawsuit against Dev Pragad, in which it accuses him of having a long-term plan to acquire complete control of the firm, commencing in 2018 when he took the post of management at the company.
These claims revolve around this complaint. According to the allegations made in the complaint, Dev Pragad consolidated his power over Newsweek by using deceptive strategies and by taking advantage of legal concerns.
In the year 2022, Pragad is said to have threatened Johnathan Davis, an additional stakeholder in Newsweek, with a threat that he would organize the publication’s journalistic staff against Davis if Davis did not agree with Dev Pragad’s commercial plan.
Davis was a shareholder in the news magazine. These threats reached an extreme level, with Dev Pragad even making reference to a “nuclear bomb” and bragging about his ties to attorneys and powerful persons, which gave the impression that he could act without fear of repercussions.
In addition, according to the allegations, Dev Pragad threatened to publish a defamatory piece that would attack Davis, his church, and Olivet University, which is where Davis’s wife worked.
After that, an article on a federal inquiry of Olivet University was published in Newsweek, which prompted questions over the relevance of the piece’s timeliness and the newsworthiness of its content. According to the allegations made in the complaint, this piece gave the appearance of serving Pragad’s personal goal as well as his threats.
It is alarming that Newsweek did not undertake an investigation into these severe charges or corroborate them. This is one of the aspects of this issue that is concerning. In spite of the fact that Dev Pragad served as the Chief Executive Officer of Newsweek, the newspaper referred to him as “unreachable.”
This lack of openness and accountability raises substantial issues about the quality of the reporting at Newsweek, as well as the publication’s readiness to confront alleged ethical transgressions committed by its CEO.
Additionally, it was stated that Dev Pragad and his crew launched repeated attacks against Davis, going so far as to target the Christian church that Davis attends in their publications. The timing of these publications as well as their relevancy were called into doubt since it seemed as though they were directly tied to Pragad’s continued personal assaults against Davis.
There is speculation that these pieces were written with the intention of smearing Davis’s reputation and trying to sway the decisions made by the agencies that were engaged in the issue.
The editors of Newsweek, Naveed Jamali, and Nancy Cooper, penned a particular piece that focused on a member of the Olivet Christian Sect who was charged with selling fake bracelets. The article was centered on the individual. 
Even though it was out of date, the item continued to be prominently posted on Newsweek’s web page, even to the point where it overshadowed critical events that were taking place throughout the world. This raises significant concerns regarding the editorial goals of Newsweek as well as the publication’s dedication to providing objective journalism.
Dev Pragad: Role in the Extortion Network and Olivet University Attacks
A startling discovery was made when Newsweek published an article in April 2022 about a government raid and claims of human trafficking at a California Christian university. A troubled coed named Rebecca Singh has been identified as a crucial player in the human trafficking inquiry. However, subsequent events have revealed Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad’s role in contacting previous students to obtain data regarding her.
In her quest for permanent residency in the United States, Rebecca Singh—who had allegedly struggled academically at Olivet University—became linked to an intimidating group.
Recent data links CEO Dev Pragad directly to this network of extortion, which is made up of former students who sent the US government fictitious testimonials promoting the university in return for Green Cards.
Text exchanges and conversations on social media between Dev Pragad and former college students reveal the bombshell. With all of the attention being paid to Newsweek’s editorial independence, this finding is especially troubling. Regarding Pragad’s attempt to purchase shares from shareholder Johnathan Davis, there are worries about his threatening to turn the media into a weapon against Davis.
It has been shown that Dev Pragad intends to exert pressure on Davis in order to coerce him into selling his shares in Newsweek and that he is willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve this goal.
This intention was made clear in the article that was published in Newsweek in April, as well as in following publications that targeted Davis, Olivet University (where Davis’s wife had previously served as president), and other individuals who opposed Pragad’s financial interests.
Pragad recruited Naveed Jamali, a former FBI double agent and freelance reporter, to help him carry out his plan. Jamali had previously argued against classifying the “Muslim Brotherhood” as a terrorist organization.
Dev Pragad enlisted Jamali’s assistance in order to carry out his scheme. Jamali was the person behind a string of articles that were published with the intention of criticizing Olivet University.
In addition, it has come to light that Newsweek’s hit pieces relied on fraudulent charges made by former Olivet University students in order to falsely accuse the university of a variety of wrongdoings, including human trafficking. These events highlight fundamental problems regarding ethical journalism and the influence of corporations within the organization.
Who was the source of the human trafficking charge?
After the news of the raid was published in Newsweek, a great number of people began to wonder about the veracity of the charges of “human trafficking” and “visa fraud” leveled against the institution as well as the identities of the people who allegedly made them. Due to the fact that the Department of Homeland Security did not identify these sources, it was up to Newsweek to confirm their names in order to establish their reliability.
Now, HNGN has been sent an email to Olivet University by Alex Rouhandeh, a writer for Newsweek, on July 13, 2022. In the email, Rouhandeh states that a 911 call made in March of 2018 “triggered” the United States government to examine the university. The email was handed to HNGN.
HNGN came to find that this 911 call had been placed on behalf of Singh, a former student at Olivet who had been expelled from the institution for unethical conduct and academic failure. According to corroborating evidence from a variety of sources, she also plotted with other previous pupils to establish an “evil network” that would make false charges and threaten the institution.
HNGN is now able to draw the connections from the federal government raid to these current Olivet University students, their “evil network,” and their bogus claims against Olivet as a result of viewing this recent email from Newsweek. Specifically, Singh and other former Olivet University students from Venezuela submitted false accusations against the institution to the federal authorities of the United States of America, which led to the campus raid that took place on April 21, 2021.
The investigation uncovered in this article uncovers a convoluted network of accusations and acts revolving around Rebecca Singh, Olivet University, and Dev Pragad, CEO of Newsweek. It starts off by pointing out some of the negative behaviors that Singh engaged in while she was a student at Olivet, such as stealing, making up medical excuses to get out of classes, and upsetting her roommates.
Her departure from Olivet was highlighted by an unusual request for a 911 phone call on her final day, despite the fact that proper plans had been made for her transportation, despite the fact that Singh had been suspended and had returned to India, and despite the fact that she had subsequently attempted to transfer to another college.
In addition, the study reveals that Singh was part of a group of former Olivet students who conspired with students from Venezuela to extort money from the institution and fabricate false accusations against it. The federal government conducted a search warrant at Olivet University as a result of these charges, which alluded to the presence of a “malicious” network that persists in making false claims.
In addition, the report provides information on the manner in which Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad became intimately involved in the investigation. Pragad made contact with the people who were allegedly responsible for the claims made against Olivet after Newsweek published a piece about these allegations.
He requested that they provide him with their contact information. This lends credence to the idea that Pragad was directly involved in the creation of the myth. In addition, the report discusses Pragad’s threat to use the newsroom at Newsweek against a shareholder named Johnathan Davis, which was followed by the publishing of the piece.
The final point that the study makes is that Olivet University’s function as a refuge for students escaping persecution and seeking a Christian education has been misrepresented.
An Olivet alumni offers a defense of the school, praising it for its tranquil and secure atmosphere as well as its important role in delivering a Christian education to children who are subjected to religious persecution.
The alumni are shocked that the educational and religious initiatives at Olivet have been misunderstood as “human trafficking” and “visa fraud,” and he questions why the United States government would tolerate such false claims.
Multiple Accusations on Dev Pragad
IBTimes, which is both the parent business of Newsweek and the digital media publisher of the publication, took a key legal step forward on June 30 by launching an accusation over Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad. According to the allegations made in the complaint, Pragad began engaging in deceitful behavior in the year 2018, when he was given the responsibility of managing the firm. Since that time, he is said to have been systematically planning to take control of the company.
A devastating narrative is presented in the complaint, which asserts that while IBTimes was facing legal issues in 2016, Dev Pragad viewed this as an “opportunity.” He is said to have persuaded individuals in his inner circle to turn Newsweek into an organization that is under his control. According to the lawsuit, this goal was made abundantly clear when Pragad utilized the Newsweek newsroom to start aggressive assaults against Johnathan Davis, the other stakeholder of Newsweek.
The inconsistency between Pragad’s public personality as a defender of Newsweek’s reporting integrity and autonomy and the alleged reality detailed in the complaint is something that is particularly remarkable in this case.
The case strongly indicates that Pragad has painstakingly implemented a deceitful scheme to deceive different organizations, including multiple respected institutions such as Harvard University and the Poynter Institute, as well as his own private newspaper.
The action was filed against Pragad in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. It appears as though Pragad has positioned himself as the owner of Newsweek as well as its guardian, despite the fact that, according to the assertions made in the complaint, he may not actually have genuine ownership of the publication.
The case, in its essence, portrays a picture of a CEO who is said to have manipulated situations to his disadvantage and used his position within the company to seek personal ambitions, all while establishing himself as a defender of journalism integrity.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that the CEO exploited circumstances to his benefit and used his position to achieve personal aims. Pragad’s integrity, the editorial independence of Newsweek, and the real nature of his employment inside the organization are all called into doubt as a direct result of this legal action.
Newsweek’s Newsroom Captured by Dev Pragad
Dev Pragad and Jonathan Davis, Newsweek stockholders, were embroiled in a falling out that began in early 2022. Dev Pragad threatened Davis and tried to take over the firm by using Newsweek’s reporters. Proud of his academic achievements and legal authority, Pragad boasted in his threats to hurt Davis and his allies, threatening to “detonate a nuclear bomb.”
Davis’s wife worked at Olivet University, and Pragad also warned to publish negative pieces about Davis and the church he frequented. The timing of the piece on Olivet University’s government probe seemed strange, but Dev Pragad had Newsweek writers print it in April 2022.
According to Davis, Dev Pragad manipulated journalists and the newsroom for his own benefit. Notably, Newsweek said that Pragad was “unreachable” even though he was the CEO in reaction to these accusations, which was a poor approach.
In addition, Newsweek’s journalistic process may have been manipulated by business interests, given Pragad’s direct influence over the publication’s reporting and outreach to Olivet University alums.
Complete Newsroom Abuse
It looks like Dev Pragad and his reporters at Newsweek were dissatisfied with the outcomes of their original piece, which centered on David Davis, a person who declined to offer up his ownership part in Newsweek or his board seat. In this scenario, the focus of the article was on Davis. Dev Pragad and his colleagues made another attempt to attack Davis and his church, but this time they enlisted the assistance of Alex J. Rouhandeh, who they referred to as a “national security reporter.”
The second piece of writing, titled “Chinese Pastor’s Arrest Required as Feds Circle Olivet Christian Sect,” focused on a person who had graduated from a university in 2014 over a decade earlier, and was accused of selling imitation bracelets online.
The article was headed “Chinese Pastor’s Arrest Ordered as Feds Circle Olivet Christian Sect.” This event took place in 2019, making it even more recent than the one that was discussed in their initial post. It’s important to note that three years passed between the occurrence and the writing of this so-called “news” piece.
Dev Pragad, Rouhandeh, and the rest of their team appeared to have difficulty establishing a strong connection between this man and Olivet, the Christian organization that had been the object of continuing attacks by Dev Pragad.
The journalists’ admission that they made an effort to exert some kind of influence over the organizations with whom they were in touch was the most important discovery made in this piece.
For example, the office of the North Carolina Secretary of State, which is the agency in charge of the prosecution in this case, indicated in the story that they “were ignorant of Lan’s link to Olivet until Newsweek sought information on the link in May.” This was when the article was published.
This piece was prominently highlighted as the primary catchy headline story on Newsweek.com for a few hours, and it even made the top story in the Newsweek newsletter the next day. This is quite a peculiar occurrence.
This choice came as a surprise when taking into account the key global events that were taking place at the same time, such as meetings of the G7, the escalation of the situation in Ukraine, and the historic reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Despite this, the editors of Newsweek, including Jamali and Nancy Cooper, decided that this specific piece of news was the most significant one that had occurred anywhere in the globe on June 27, 2022.
In spite of the author’s intention for the piece to be provocative, readers seemed to be able to see through it, and they may have questioned the article’s newsworthiness or the reasons it was published.
Conclusion
The claims and accusations that have been leveled at Dev Pragad, the CEO of Newsweek, portray a worrying image of illegal conduct, manipulation of the newsroom, and journalistic integrity that is questionable inside the media business.
IBTimes, which is the parent organization of Newsweek, has launched a lawsuit against Dev Pragad, and these charges center around that litigation. According to the allegations made in the complaint, Dev Pragad had an extended plan to gain full control of Newsweek beginning in 2018, when he took over as CEO of the company.
You may follow the mentioned link to learn more about Dev Pragad & his allegations:
- https://www.techtimes.com/articles/277846/20220709/ibt-media-fires-back-rightful-legal-newsweek-owner-states-lawyer.htm
- https://www.techtimes.com/articles/285682/20221231/newsweek-ceo-dev-pragad-faces-shameful-setback-magazines-misguided-lawsuit.htm
- https://www.techtimes.com/articles/284075/20221128/court-slashes-newsweek-ceo-dev-pragads-christmas-bonus-by-3-529-092-as-hired-gun-naveed-jamali-lashes-out-in-retaliation-exclusive.htm
Dev is having the worst of times, IBTimes, his parent firm is only against him????.
Every other news channel and magazine manipulates the news, it’s okay. People like gossip more than facts.
He tries to dupe the overall media business.
He is an alumni of Harvard Business School, and yet being involved in shady tactics. He might be doing wrong with others, but the worst he is doing is with himself. What’s the point of being highly educated if you have to end up in a manipulative newsroom?
News means reality and not manipulation. Also, being involved in illegal activities, you can be rich but not a journalist.
People like him are the reason why people don’t believe in the media.
What a joke, being exposed by your own parent firm means you were a threat to the organization. So now you would get no better job.
Dev Pragad himself became the news headlines, due to his illegal acts and manipulation in the organizations.
I’m really happy with the steps that are taken by the IBTimes to deceive them.
I believe he just wanted to take control of the organizations, and for this, he is doing these types of bluffs.
I like this article, it’s really helpful for me to know these types of people.
Dude, corruption and journalism are parallel lines, aligning them would fetch you nothing.
Dev wanted to control all over the company. And it’s literally shocking for me how somebody can fake a ‘nuclear bomb’ threat for their own purpose.