New Delhi: A well-known Indian American oil and gas investor and philanthropist, Gaurav Srivastava has been facing widespread negative campaign. Once known only to niche circles in frontier markets and commodities Srivastava’s name, over the course of a year, became synonymous with allegations of deceit, espionage, and fraud.
Interestingly, it is believed that to keep in check the expansion of the Indo-American Bussinessman, the negative campaigns were run against him by rival forces. Some theories link the campaign to a failed business partnership.
According to the OffshoreAlert London Conference, which is an annual gathering of journalists, legal experts, forensic accountants, and intelligence professionals, and focuses on exposing fraud and malfeasance in international markets, the Srivastava case was adjudged as a prime example of how digital tools can be weaponized to destroy reputations and disrupt businesses.
Therefore, this year’s conference expanded its scope to include the growing threat of disinformation campaigns focusing particularly on their intersection with finance and reputational risk.
“Accusing someone (Gaurav Srivastava) of being a spy creates a narrative that’s as damaging as it is ambiguous, it forces the target into a defensive position where every response fuels suspicion,” explained a cybersecurity analyst at the event.
Subsequently, the ripple effect of the narrative had also reached the Indian subcontinent which has led Gaurav Srivastava file a lawsuit in Delhi High Court claiming that various media outlets and online platforms published “false and unverified articles” accusing him of misconduct.