Joshua Wright

Early life and education Wright was born and raised in San Diego, California. Wright studied economics at the University of California, San Diego, graduating in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts, with honors. He then went to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he jointly did doctoral study in economics and attended the UCLA School of Law. As a law student, Wright was a managing editor of the UCLA Law Review. He received a J.D. in 2002 and a Ph.D. in economics in 2003. At the time, his appointment was scrutinized because of a pending FTC case against Google. Wright's research had been indirectly funded by Google, and he previously criticized the FTC's probe into Google. He agreed to recuse himself on any FTC matters involving Google for two years.

During his FTC tenure, Wright prolifically sided against attempts to regulate Big Tech.

Other activities Following the 2016 presidential election, Wright was appointed to serve on Donald Trump's presidential transition team, where he oversaw matters pertaining to the FTC. He was considered for the position of United States Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division.

Conflict-of-interest accusations

Qualcomm controversy In June 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that the office of the inspector general of the FTC had opened an investigation in 2017 into whether Wright had violated a federal conflict-of-interest law by representing Qualcomm and lobbying the FTC to drop a lawsuit it was then pursuing against Qualcomm, with the FTC inspector general's office concluding that Wright had violated federal law and recommending that he be prosecuted, although the Department of Justice declined to pursue the case. The Wall Street Journal reported that Wright's affairs with his students began as early as 2006. Google terminated its relationship with Wright as a consultant after allegations publicly surfaced in 2023. In deposition testimony, Kirkland & Ellis reported that the firm stopped working with Wright because the case he was on ended, and that the firm had no intention of working with Wright in the future after reading Wright's defamation complaint.

During the defamation litigation, Wright admitted to sexual relationships with at least seven female GMU Law students over a period of more than 15 years. Dorsey described the defamation matter as "19 months of retaliatory litigation," and noted that the settlement funds came exclusively from insurance and constituted less than 0.3% of Wright's alleged $108 million in damages. Dorsey further stated she was "motivated to speak out because it became clear to me that Wright was repeatedly using his power as a professor to facilitate improper sexual interactions with numerous students not just me," and the "idea that other women would also feel like their career opportunities were tied to sexual interactions with Professor Wright--whether welcome or not--is never acceptable." The evidentiary hearing was held March 24–25, 2025, following which the judge ordered post-hearing briefing due April 25, 2025.

In December 2023, Wright filed a Title IX lawsuit against George Mason University. In the lawsuit, Wright claimed that GMU engaged in sex discrimination against him, alleging that university leadership prematurely stood with his accusers because they are women. In a September 2024 decision, the Eastern District of Virginia denied Wright's motion for a preliminary injunction to stop GMU's Title IX investigation, and granted in part and denied in part GMU's motion to dismiss Wright's claims. Wright dropped his lawsuit against GMU in December 2024.

Personal life and recognition Wright lived in McLean, Virginia with his wife and three children.

He was also co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, a journal that applied scholarship to assess decisions by the United States Supreme Court. He was also senior editor of the Antitrust Law Journal, an academic journal published by the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section