The president of the powerful World Economic Forum, the Norwegian Borge Brende, announced this Thursday his decision to leave his position, after learning that he had some relationship with the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he met on more than one occasion.
The organization confirmed the departure of the executive, who belonged to it for more than eight years, and announced that board member Alois Zwinggi will serve as interim president and CEO.
“The Board of Directors will oversee the leadership transition, including the plan to promote an appropriate process to identify a permanent successor,” said the co-chairs of this body, the Swiss pharmaceutical industry magnate André Hoffmann and the president of the American investment company Black Rock, Larry Fink.
Three business dinners and exchange of messages
The information was released through a statement, the first part of which corresponds to a statement from Brende and the second to the co-presidents, indicating that the announcement was carefully planned.
“After careful reflection I have decided to resign,” says Brende, about whom the Forum opened an internal investigation into his relationship with Epstein, with whom he had three business dinners and exchanged messages, as revealed by the files on the sexual criminal’s case made public by the United States Department of Justice.
In this regard, Brende stated that he did not know Epstein’s criminal record, but has acknowledged that he should have been better informed.
According to the statement attributed to Fink and Hoffmann, the investigation was concluded and determined that “there were no additional causes for concern beyond what had previously been revealed.”
First meeting, in 2018: ten years after Epstein’s first conviction
The first acknowledged meeting between Brende and Epstein – to which the former has claimed he was invited by former Norwegian Deputy Prime Minister Terje Rod-Larsen – took place in 2018, ten years after Epstein was convicted of prostitution of minors.
Brende – who held the positions of sole president and executive director of the organization, after the unfortunate departure of its founder, with whom he had shared both responsibilities between 2017 and 2025, Klaus Schwab – said in his farewell that during the years he was in charge, “a record number of partners” joined the World Economic Forum and that collaboration with “government leaders from around the world (was) like never before.”
“I think now is the right time for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions,” added the former Norwegian politician, who headed several ministries in his country before joining the Geneva-based organization that organizes the famous Davos Forum meeting, which for more than a decade marks the beginning of the year on the international agenda.
