Larry Ellison

Ellison bought approximately 98% of Lānaʻi in 2012. His group controls a substantial share of its housing, water supply, shops and major hotel complexes; it also acquired the local newspaper. This concentration fuelled concerns about residents' autonomy, housing affordability and the independence of information.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

After Oracle acquired Cerner in 2022, the Department of Veterans Affairs' electronic health record programme continued to experience major incidents. In 2024, the OIG concluded that VA and Oracle Health lacked sufficient controls to prevent and manage certain incidents affecting patient care.

State of the evidence

Documented

According to a Wall Street Journal investigation reported again in 2026, Ellison gave approximately $45 million to a non-profit organisation supporting Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, a major political contribution not visible at the time as a conventional campaign donation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

The day after Trump's 2025 inauguration, Oracle, SoftBank and OpenAI were presented at the White House as key participants in Stargate, a project intended to mobilise up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure investment. Ellison appeared alongside the President during the announcement.

State of the evidence

Documented

Oracle, already TikTok's infrastructure provider in the United States, was placed at the centre of White House-backed negotiations to restructure TikTok's US business and control its data and software updates.

State of the evidence

Documented

Donald Trump appointed Larry Ellison to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in March 2026, while Oracle played a central role in several federal or strategically important cloud and AI projects.

State of the evidence

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Personally implicated

Oracle's workforce fell by approximately 21,000 employees, or 13%, during financial year 2026. The company recorded nearly $1.84 billion in restructuring costs while substantially increasing expenditure on AI and data centres.

State of the evidence

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Direct responsibility

Oracle committed tens of billions of dollars in expenditure and financing to build AI data centres, with an exceptional order backlog concentrated among a few very large customers. In 2026, markets repeatedly questioned its ability to convert the backlog into cash flow while financing a sharp rise in investment.

State of the evidence

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Direct responsibility

A federal class action accused Oracle of collecting, aggregating and selling personal data without consent to build detailed profiles. Oracle agreed to a $115 million settlement and changes to its practices; the appeals process ended on 22 June 2026, making the settlement effective.

The Privacy Collective sued Oracle in the Netherlands, alleging breaches of privacy and the GDPR involving cookie-based data collection, combination with offline data and creation of profiles. Following several decisions on admissibility, the Dutch Supreme Court referred questions about representativeness for further consideration on 17 July 2026; the substance of the allegations remained undecided.

State of the evidence

Allegations

A securities class action filed in February 2026 and amended in July targeted Oracle, Larry Ellison and several executives. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants made or endorsed false or misleading statements about Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, particularly the relationship between massive AI infrastructure expenditure and revenue growth.

State of the evidence

Allegations

Attribution

Accused

Bondholders filed a class action in January 2026 against Oracle, Larry Ellison and banks following an $18 billion bond issue. They allege that Oracle failed adequately to disclose that it would need to raise further debt to finance its massive AI infrastructure expansion, affecting the value of the securities.

State of the evidence

Allegations

Attribution

Accused

The Ellison family controls Paramount Skydance, and Larry Ellison provided a major personal guarantee for financing the bid for Warner Bros Discovery. In 2026, twelve US states and the Writers Guild of America challenged the deal on antitrust grounds, securing a delay while the parties negotiated and a trial was scheduled. The FCC and federal DOJ, meanwhile, granted significant approvals.

State of the evidence

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Direct responsibility

A Paramount shareholder filed a derivative action in Delaware in July 2026 targeting Larry and David Ellison among others. The complaint alleges unlawful private promises or benefits intended to facilitate regulatory approvals, claiming in particular that Larry Ellison discussed future changes at CNN with Donald Trump in the context of the Warner Bros Discovery deal.

Attribution

Directly implicated

Oracle shareholders alleged that Ellison, a major shareholder in both Oracle and NetSuite, had used his influence to cause Oracle to overpay for NetSuite and enrich himself through the 2016 acquisition.

State of the evidence

Allegations

Attribution

Accused

Oracle was first sanctioned by the SEC in 2012 for off-the-books funds created by Oracle India, and again in 2022 for FCPA violations involving subsidiaries in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and India. The SEC stated that off-the-books funds had been used, among other things, to provide benefits to foreign officials; Oracle settled the second case for more than $23 million.

State of the evidence

Settlement

After Oracle announced that it would stop software development for HP Itanium servers, HP argued that Oracle was breaching commitments reaffirmed in the Hurd settlement. A California court ruled in HP's favour; a jury subsequently awarded billions of dollars in damages, and the proceedings ultimately ended with a payment of approximately $4.66 billion following appeals.

State of the evidence

Documented

Oracle pursued intellectual property litigation against Google for more than a decade over its use of Java APIs in Android, with potentially billions of dollars at stake.

State of the evidence

Documented

The Department of Labor accused Oracle of systemic pay and hiring discrimination affecting women and certain racial groups in particular. After nearly four years of proceedings, an administrative law judge dismissed the case.

State of the evidence

Allegations

Ellison hosted a fundraising event for Donald Trump at his Rancho Mirage property in February 2020, with tickets and access tiers costing substantial amounts.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Personally implicated

On 14 November 2020, Ellison participated in a call involving, among others, Lindsey Graham, Sean Hannity, Jay Sekulow and a lawyer from True the Vote, discussing strategies to challenge the legitimacy of the presidential election result.

State of the evidence

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Personally implicated

After Mark Hurd's controversial departure from Hewlett-Packard, Ellison publicly defended him and then hired him as Oracle co-president. HP sued to prevent the appointment, arguing that Hurd could not work for a competitor without risking disclosure of confidential information.

State of the evidence

Settlement

Attribution

Direct responsibility

Shareholders accused Ellison of selling nearly $900 million in Oracle shares in January 2001, just over a month before disappointing results were announced and the share price fell. A settlement provided for him to pay $100 million to charitable causes to end the derivative action.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Ellison led Oracle's hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft. The Department of Justice sued to block the transaction, arguing that it would reduce competition in enterprise software and lead to higher prices and less innovation.

State of the evidence

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Direct responsibility

Oracle acknowledged paying an investigation agency to seek compromising information about groups supporting Microsoft during its antitrust trial. Reported methods included searching through rubbish and offering money to cleaning staff. Ellison publicly took responsibility for and defended the initiative.

State of the evidence

Admitted by the person

Attribution

Direct responsibility

Ellison was repeatedly criticised for landing his Gulfstream V at San Jose airport after the night-time curfew, reportedly preferring to pay fines rather than change his schedule.

State of the evidence

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Personally implicated

Oracle had to restate its revenues in 1990 following years of heavily discounted sales and accounting practices that had led to recording revenue not yet collected. The company subsequently reported a loss and suffered a dramatic decline in valuation, in a crisis that marked Ellison's governance.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility