Davos chief probed over alleged Epstein ties – media

Borge Brende reportedly requested the investigation himself following revelations about business dinners and email and text exchanges

The World Economic Forum has launched an investigation into Borge Brende, the Davos Forum’s CEO, to clarify his relations with disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, several news outlets reported on Thursday, citing the organization.

The US Justice Department published the final tranche of documents related to convicted sex offender Epstein, including his personal emails, last week. Spanning over 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images, the trove has renewed scrutiny of Epstein’s connections to political, business, and tech figures.

Many of those named in the files were regulars at the annual forum in Davos, highlighting the fact that Epstein’s network overlapped with some of the world’s most influential circles. Among them were former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, tech leaders Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, and Peter Thiel, as well as Bill Gates, former US President Bill Clinton, entrepreneur Richard Branson, and banking figures such as Ariane de Rothschild.

The board of the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) said it decided to initiate an independent review of Brende’s ties to the notorious financier, citing revelations about “three business dinners” the CEO attended with Epstein, as well as email and text exchanges.

“This decision underscores the Forum’s commitment to transparency and maintaining its integrity,” the WEF said, as cited by Bloomberg, stressing that Brende “fully supports, and cooperates with, this review, having indeed requested it himself.”

Read more

Brende, who has led the WEF since 2017, will retain his position but will not be involved in the review process, the organization said. He claimed, as cited by the news agency, that he “was completely unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities,” and would have declined the invitations otherwise.

“I recognize that I could have conducted a more thorough investigation into Epstein’s history, and I regret not doing so,” Brende stated.

Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for raping a minor, was arrested again in 2019 on charges of human trafficking and exploiting victims for prostitution. He died in his jail cell ahead of his trial.

The DOJ has gradually released materials related to the Epstein case under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump.