The Epstein bomb has detonated. Who's been caught in its blast? - The Times

A prince stripped of his title and arrested, a former minister facing fierce scrutiny, and a country wondering what is likely to emerge next: the reverberations from the latest release of three million files by the US Department of Justice relating to Jeffrey Epstein were on full display last week in Britain. But the files bomb that detonated under this country’s institutions has sent shrapnel flying much further afield.

While being named in the files is not an indication of any criminal wrongdoing, many of those whose names appear are now feeling the consequences. From Norway to America, politicians are under pressure, chief executives are stepping away from businesses they took decades to build, and universities are cutting ties with some of their most esteemed professors. So just who has been affected by the Epstein files release and how far have its ripples reached?

Business and finance

Last Monday Thomas Pritzker, a billionaire born into one of America’s wealthiest families, announced his immediate retirement as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels. Chicago’s first family of fortune and philanthropy, the Pritzker name is synonymous with the city’s cultural and educational institutions. But now Thomas Pritzker has become associated with something else: his longstanding relationship with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

He is listed as a passenger travelling alongside Epstein and Maxwell on a December 2000 flight from London Luton airport to an airbase in Norfolk. For more than a decade Pritzker and Epstein exchanged friendly emails, once discussing Chicago politics. In a 2017 text message, Epstein referred to Pritzker as being “like family” and, in another 2018 exchange, Pritzker was asked for help with hotel reservations for a woman travelling in Asia who was searching for a “new girlfriend for Jeffrey”.

He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing but after 25 years he has decided it is time to leave the family business. “I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them [Epstein and Maxwell], and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner,” he said in a statement.

Epstein’s initial downfall saw many Wall Street bigwigs unseated, with high-profile resignations such as that of Jes Staley, the former chief executive of Barclays, and Leon Black, co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, in 2021. The most recent release of files, however, shows that his web spun far beyond Wall Street, all the way to the Middle East.

This month Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chair and chief executive of the Dubai-based logistics giant DP World, was named by US congressmen as one of the “six wealthy, powerful men” whose identities were initially redacted in the documents. Messages between him and Epstein showed the pair discussing sex and Epstein telling Sulayem he “loved the torture video”. After their publication, two of DP World’s largest international partners, Canada’s La Caisse pension fund and the UK’s development finance arm British International Investment (BII), said they would halt future deals. BII added that the freeze would remain in place “until the required actions have been taken by the company”. In a statement released on February 13, which did not mention Sulayem, the Dubai government announced a new chair and a new chief executive for DP World. BII said it welcomed the decision and was looking forward “to resuming our partnership”. Sulayem’s departure marks one of the most high-powered exits in the Epstein fallout.

Others have, for the time being, removed themselves from the limelight. The Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who has sloughed off his previous associations with Epstein as no more than “several dinners” to discuss an aborted philanthropy project, cancelled a keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi on Thursday hours before he was due to speak. The Gates Foundation, his philanthropic organisation, said the decision was made after “careful consideration” and “to ensure the focus remains on the [conference’s] key priorities”.

In the recent tranche of files Gates’s name was found on documents apparently drafted by Epstein alleging that he needed medicine after having “sex with Russian girls”. Gates called the contents of the files completely false and a spokesperson said: “These claims — from a proven, disgruntled liar — are absolutely absurd and completely false.”

Politicians and public figures

The fallout has gone far beyond the business world, reaching the most high-profile and public of figures. In America, Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and one-time president of Harvard University, stepped back from public commitments saying he was “deeply ashamed” after emails with Epstein showed him making sexist remarks and asking for romantic advice. His wife, Elisa New, a former Harvard poetry professor, had her television show Poetry in America cancelled after the files appeared to show that Epstein was involved in developing and possibly funding her work.

The former US president Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, will appear in front of Congress this month, forced to answer questions about their interactions with Epstein and Maxwell. Photographs of Clinton relaxing in a pool with Maxwell and on Epstein’s private plane surfaced in the release. Neither are accused of any wrongdoing, nor is it suggested they were aware of Epstein’s criminal activity.

Then there is the years-long friendship between Kathryn Ruemmler, the general counsel at Goldman Sachs and former deputy White House counsel under President Obama, and “Uncle Jeffrey”. Ruemmler advised Epstein on how to respond to tough questions about his sex crimes and discussed her dating life, while he provided career advice and sent her gifts. This month, Ruemmler announced her resignation from Goldman Sachs. She has denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct.

In Norway, the files set hares coursing for a string of public figures. Mette-Marit, the Crown Princess, has been forced to apologise for “poor judgment”, after documents showed years of contact with Epstein. “I deeply regret having had any contact with Epstein. It is simply embarrassing,” she said in a statement issued by the royal palace. Also under pressure is Mona Juul, a diplomat, who resigned as the country’s ambassador to Jordan and Iraq this month. Juul is being investigated by Norwegian police alongside her husband, the former diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen, after emails suggested they received loans from the paedophile financier. Juul is charged with aggravated corruption, Rod‑Larsen with contribution to aggravated corruption. Juul’s lawyer has said she “does not recognise the accusations made against her” and Rod-Larsen’s lawyer said he was confident the investigation would clarify “there is no basis for criminal liability”.

The chief executive of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Borge Brende, has also been linked with Epstein and a former prime minister of Norway, Thorbjorn Jagland, has been charged with “gross corruption”. Investigators are looking into “whether gifts, travel and loans were received in connection with his position” after reviewing frequent emails with Epstein. Brende has acknowledged communicating with Epstein by email and text, but said he was “completely unaware” of his past criminal activity. He added that he welcomed the WEF’s decision to launch a review. Jagland’s lawyer, Anders Brosveet, welcomed the opening of the investigation.

Emails from the files also prompted the resignation of Miroslav Lajcak, the national security adviser to Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico. Exchanges appeared to show Lajcak and Epstein bantering about young women. Lajcak initially denied discussing women with Epstein when the files were released on Friday, according to Slovak media. He later said he had decided to resign to avoid damaging Fico politically, it has been reported.

In Sweden, Joanna Rubinstein, the country’s chair for UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, stepped down after documents revealed that she and her family had visited Epstein on his private island in 2012. “I was aware of the [2008] judgment at the time of my visit. What was subsequently revealed about the extent of the abuse is horrific, and I firmly distance myself from it,” she said.

In France, police have been conducting searches at the prestigious Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris, as they investigate its former president Jack Lang over connections with Epstein. Lang, an 86-year-old former Socialist minister, resigned from his IMA post this month after his name was found nearly 700 times in the latest release of files. He is being investigated for suspected “laundering of the proceeds of tax evasion” and denies any wrongdoing, describing the allegations as “baseless”. He told IMA staff: “I am totally serene because I have nothing to hide.”

Academia

It is not difficult to understand how Epstein came to circle the worlds of the super-rich and socialites, but the number of academics and university staff swept up in his spell is more complex. The release of the files has resulted in job losses and reputational damage, as universities swiftly distance themselves from professors to avoid the crossfire.

At Yale University, in Connecticut, an email sent to Epstein in 2011 from David Gelernter, a professor of computer science, has caused a storm. The email gave an account of his relationship with an unnamed alumna; he described her as a “v small goodlooking blonde”.

This month, the university’s on-campus newspaper, Yale Daily News, reported that in an email to the head of Yale’s engineering programme, Gelernter acknowledged his communications with Epstein. It claimed that he wrote: “I was recommending her for a job I thought she’d like. When you do that … you keep the potential boss’s habits in mind … This one was obsessed with girls … She was smart, charming & gorgeous. Ought I to have suppressed that info? Never! I’m very glad I wrote the note.” Gelernter has been approached for comment.

A spokesperson for the university said: “The professor later both acknowledged and defended this communication and the action he took in connection with the communication. The university does not condone the action taken by the professor or his described manner of providing recommendations for his students. The professor’s conduct is under review. Until the review is completed, the professor will not teach his class.”

Columbia University, in NYC, has punished two people linked to its dental college, after documents shed light on them bypassing the normal admissions process to gain access for Epstein’s girlfriend, Karyna Shuliak, in 2012. After her admission, Epstein gave $100,000 to a public-health project run by Dr Ira Lamster, the dean of the dental college. In 2014, he gave $50,000 to the dental school’s annual fund.

Letty Moss-Salentijn, a vice-dean at the dental college, has been stripped of the title for helping to develop a personalised study plan for Shuliak, but remains a tenured faculty member. Thomas Magnani, formerly Epstein’s personal dentist and who has not taught at the university since 2017, has been removed from the admissions review committee and volunteer leadership roles after it emerged he was key in gaining Shuliak’s access.

Why individuals would risk hard-won academic careers for Epstein comes down to money, said Bruce Lewenstein, a professor of science communication at Cornell University. Lewenstein says that since the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, which allowed the commercialisation of academic research, universities have been actively encouraged to seek investment from private donors. “Part of the job of a university president in the United States is to go out and find donors who will pay for programmes, buildings or research projects. For the other party, the donor, the motivation is social status,” he said.

Entertainment and the arts

Even without accusations of criminal wrongdoing, such is the scale of the Epstein fallout that association is enough to crumble those who move in the circles of once untouchable Hollywood royalty.

Casey Wasserman, grandson of the renowned entertainment executive Lew Wasserman and owner of Wasserman Group, was treated to Epstein’s largesse, the files appear to show, with Wasserman taking a ride on the billionaire’s private plane. He also shared flirtatious email exchanges with Maxwell. As the allegations began gaining public attention, Wasserman’s famous clients threatened to leave his agency. The death knell was the pop star Chappell Roan. Days after she quit, he sent a company-wide email announcing that he was selling Wasserman Group. He said he had “become a distraction” and that he “deeply regrets” his discussions with Maxwell. He is also facing pressure to resign from his role as chair of the 2028 Olympics, held in Los Angeles.

Epstein’s starry friendships, which included the film-maker Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, weren’t limited to the showbiz circles of New York and LA. In Texas, Peter Attia, a longevity expert with more than 1.5 million Instagram followers, a popular podcast and a health practice that charges more than $100,000 for exercise, nutrition and preventive testing programmes, is facing a backlash.

He is mentioned in the files more than 1,700 times, including telling Epstein’s assistant in 2016: “I go into JE withdrawal when I don’t see him.” In another message, he wrote: “You [know] the biggest problem with becoming friends with you? The life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul.” He has denied that he was referring to criminal sexual activity and there is no indication of criminal wrongdoing. Attia has since stepped down as chief scientific officer of David, a protein bar company.