By Hanna Ziady, NCS
London (NCS) — A month in the past, Børge Brende interviewed US President Donald Trump following his address to authorities and enterprise leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
On Thursday, the president and CEO of the World Economic Forum, which organizes the annual gathering in the Swiss alps, introduced he was stepping down following an impartial investigation into his relationship with the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Brende’s resignation is the newest in a string of high-profile departures linked to the publication of the so-called Epstein files, a group of thousands and thousands of emails and different paperwork detailing the actions of the disgraced financier.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to step down as President and CEO of the World Economic Forum,” Brende, a former Norwegian overseas minister, mentioned in a statement. “My time here, spanning 8½ years, has been profoundly rewarding.”
The discussion board launched the impartial overview earlier this month when it emerged that Brende had attended three enterprise dinners with Epstein in 2018 and 2019, in addition to communicated with him by way of emails and textual content messages.
At least one in all the dinners passed off at Epstein’s house in New York, emails present, just weeks earlier than the financier was arrested on federal costs of child sex trafficking. Back in 2008, Epstein pleaded responsible to soliciting intercourse from a minor and was subsequently sentenced to 18 months in jail.
In an announcement earlier this month, after the WEF launched its probe, Brende mentioned he had been “completely unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities” and wouldn’t have communicated or attended dinners with him had he identified. “I recognize that I could have conducted a more thorough investigation into Epstein’s history, and I regret not doing so,” he added.
There was no indication Brende engaged in wrongdoing, however he joins a rising slate of enterprise leaders and others who have had their careers derailed by revelations contained in the Epstein files, printed by the US Justice Department since late December.
That checklist consists of Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Tom Pritzker; high Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathy Ruemmler; and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the CEO of Dubai logistics large DP World. None have been charged with wrongdoing.
In 2021, Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black and Barclays CEO Jes Staley each stepped down due to their ties to Epstein.
In the WEF assertion Thursday, the discussion board’s co-chairs Larry Fink and Andre Hoffmann thanked Brende for his “significant contributions” to the group.
They additionally mentioned the impartial overview into Brende’s ties with Epstein had now concluded and that no “additional concerns beyond what has been previously disclosed” have been recognized.
The WEF has appointed Alois Zwinggi as interim president and CEO whereas the course of to nominate a everlasting successor is underway.
Brende’s departure comes lower than a yr after the WEF’s founding chairman, Klaus Schwab, stepped down below a cloud, following whistleblower allegations of misconduct. An investigation into the allegations, which concluded in August, discovered “no evidence of material wrongdoing” by Schwab, in keeping with a statement from the WEF.
The-NCS-Wire
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Robert North and Maisie Linford contributed reporting.