Draghi’s Sovereignty Group Launches With Swiss Base and Big Tech Ties
A think tank led by Mario Draghi to promote European tech sovereignty faces criticism for operating from Switzerland, using American technology, and appointing a 24-year-old whose hedge fund lost $35 billion.
The Rhine Group was unveiled on August 24 with Mario Draghi and Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison serving as co-chairs, according to Brussels Signal. The organisation bills itself as a serious initiative to translate Draghi’s 2024 competitiveness report into actionable reforms designed to halt Europe’s slide in technology, productivity, and innovation.
Day-to-day operations are overseen by Luis Garicano, a Spanish economist at the London School of Economics and former member of the European Parliament, who holds the position of executive director.
Failed Hedge Fund Manager Among Key Members
One of the most eyebrow-raising appointments is that of Leopold Aschenbrenner, a young AI investor whose hedge fund collapsed in late July 2026 after racking up losses of approximately $35 billion.
Aschenbrenner was terminated from OpenAI’s superalignment team in April 2024 amid disputed allegations of leaking confidential information. He subsequently published a lengthy essay titled Situational Awareness, which made bold predictions about the path to artificial general intelligence and garnered significant attention in Silicon Valley circles.
He then established an AI-focused hedge fund bearing the same name, despite having no prior professional investment experience. The fund secured backing from Patrick and John Collison, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and trading firm Jane Street.
The fund ballooned through aggressive leveraged positions, at one stage managing roughly $45 billion in assets and delivering net returns of 439 per cent in the first half of 2026, as reported by the Financial Times.
However, a sharp downturn in AI-related equities triggered margin calls from lenders in late July 2026. Aschenbrenner was forced into a distressed sale of much of the fund’s public equity holdings to Citadel, the firm headed by Ken Griffin, at a substantial discount.
The debacle erased about $35 billion in value, prompted an apology to investors, and left the fund managing only around $10 billion, CNBC reported. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has since issued subpoenas to banks involved in the fund’s trading and lending activities, the New York Times reported on August 24, 2026. The fund has not been formally accused of wrongdoing.
Aschenbrenner’s rapid inclusion in the Rhine Group—particularly given Collison’s role both as co-chair and early backer of the failed fund—has raised questions about the group’s judgment and priorities.
Swiss Headquarters, American Infrastructure
The Rhine Group’s commitment to European sovereignty has been further undermined by revelations about its own operational structure, as Brussels Signal reports.
The organisation is headquartered in Switzerland, not within the European Union. Its legal notice confirms it was established as an association under the Swiss Civil Code, with a registered office at a trust company in Geneva and governed by Swiss law.
Moreover, the group’s entire digital infrastructure is American. The website is built and hosted on US platforms, with development by Webflow of San Francisco, hosting provided by Amazon Web Services with primary servers in Northern Virginia, and content delivery managed through Fastly nodes across Europe and worldwide.
Geographical Imbalance and US Corporate Ties
The membership roster of 55 individuals has also drawn criticism for its lopsided composition. Poland has no representation whatsoever, and only one member hails from countries that joined the European Union in 2004 or later: former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
Several members occupy senior positions at US-based or US-linked corporations, including Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, General Catalyst, and General Atlantic. Co-chair Patrick Collison’s own company, Stripe, maintains substantial operations in San Francisco.
The contradictions between the Rhine Group’s stated mission of European technological independence and its reliance on Swiss jurisdiction, American digital infrastructure, and a membership heavily tilted toward Western Europe and US business interests have not gone unnoticed by critics who question whether the initiative can credibly deliver on its ambitious promises.
With information from Brussels Signal
