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Borge Brende announced Thursday that he is stepping down as president and chief executive of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which organizes the annual Davos summit, following revelations about his past interactions with convicted U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to step down as president and CEO of the World Economic Forum,” the former Norwegian foreign minister said in a statement.
Brende said his 8½ years leading the Geneva-based organization had “been profoundly rewarding,” but added that “now is the right moment for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions.”
Earlier this month, the WEF said it had launched an independent review into Brende’s interactions with Epstein after his name appeared dozens of times in millions of documents released by the U.S. Justice Department.
Appearing in the Epstein files does not in itself imply wrongdoing.
The WEF said Thursday that the review had concluded.
“The findings stated that there were no additional concerns beyond what has been previously disclosed,” the organization said in a statement.
The forum expressed “sincere appreciation for Borge Brende’s significant contributions” and said it respected his decision to resign.
WEF Managing Director Alois Zwinggi was appointed interim president and CEO while the board begins the process of selecting a permanent successor.
Brende said earlier this month that during a visit to New York in 2018, he received an invitation for former Norwegian deputy prime minister Terje Rød-Larsen to join him for dinner with several other leaders and “someone who was presented to me as an American investor, Jeffrey Epstein.”
He said he attended two similar dinners the following year and exchanged a small number of emails and text messages with Epstein.
“These dinners, and a few emails and SMS messages, were the extent of my interactions with him,” Brende said.
“I was completely unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities,” he added, saying he would have declined the invitations had he known of Epstein’s background.
Brende acknowledged he could have conducted more thorough due diligence and said he regretted not doing so.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a child for prostitution and served 13 months of an 18-month sentence.
He was later charged with sex trafficking and died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
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