New York Times' investigation, which included interviews with 40 current and former McKinsey employees, and dozens of their clients, found that the American company allegedly helped raise the stature of authoritarian and corrupt governments across the globe, sometimes in ways that countered American interests - at a time when democracies and their basic values are increasingly under attack. McKinsey responded saying the article painted a misleading picture, one that selectively used a handful of client engagements and one office retreat to fundamentally mischaracterize the firm’s presence in large parts of the world.