Two senior executives from the US firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) are set to lose their leadership roles following the reports that they were linked to a project to forcibly displace Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Adam Farber, chief risk officer, and Rich Hutchinson, head of social impact practice, will be losing their leadership positions but will remain at the firm with client-facing roles after an internal investigation was conducted, sources told the Financial Times (FT).
Both officials were named in an FT report as being involved in discussions about the 'relocation' scheme, in which BGC helped model the costs of forcibly expelling Palestinians as part of a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip as a 'regional trading hub'.
Farber had reportedly held conversations with one of two partners BCG previously fired over the scheme, Matt Schleuter.
Hutchinson reportedly allocated over $1million to help to establish the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and its associated security company Safe Reach Solutions (SRS).
BCG insists the two were misled about the exact nature of the project. The firm's chief executive, Christoph Schweizer, said the investigation "made clear that Adam [Farber] had no intent to mislead and that he himself was misled".
The Boston Consulting Group helped design and run the business operations of the widely condemned GHF, which has set up aid distribution points where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces.
The BCG says a team from the US, led by two partners providing pro-bono support, carried out unauthorised work when helping to establish the GHF.
The firm also says the two former partners initiated the work in post-war Gaza reconstruction, stating it was not a BCG project and was "orchestrated and run secretly outside any BCG scope or approvals".
While the BCG say its work was pro bono, The Washington Post reported the firm submitted invoices of over $1 million per month.
FT found the BCG covered over $4 million of contracted work, including modelling work on forced displacement and a cost estimate for giving thousands of Gazans "relocation packages" worth $9,000 per person in exchange for them to forcibly leave the region.
This prompted aid group Save the Children to suspended its partnership with the firm over the plan.
The firm was also reported to have contributed to the financial modelling for the "Great Trust" plan, a scheme to transform Gaza into a trading and industrial hub, featuring projects such as a "Trump Riviera" and an "Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone."
The plan was developed by a group of Israeli businessmen and shared with the Trump administration.
FT found the proposal included giving financial incentives for up to 500,000 Palestinians to leave the enclave.
BCG terminated its contract with the GHF in June.
A UK parliamentary committee has demanded that the firm explain its work on Gaza, including its role in establishing the GHF.