By Dave Graham
ZURICH, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The president and CEO of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, said he was stepping down on Thursday, a few weeks after the forum launched an independent investigation into his relationship with late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Brende, who became president of the WEF in 2017, announced his decision in a statement following disclosures from the U.S. Justice Department that showed the Norwegian had three business dinners with Epstein and had also communicated with the disgraced financier via email and text message.
"After careful consideration, I have decided to step down as President and CEO of the World Economic Forum. My time here, spanning 8-1/2 years, has been profoundly rewarding," said Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister.
Issued by the WEF, the statement made no mention of Epstein. However, Brende told Norwegian media he was sorry about how he had handled his dealings with the American and that he did not want the issue to be a distraction for the forum, which organises the annual Davos summit.
Brende has previously said he was unaware of Epstein's past and criminal activities before first meeting him in 2018, and that he regretted not having investigated him more thoroughly.
Brende's decision to quit follows a series of revelations relating to Epstein, who in 2008 was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. The revelations have roiled business and political elites, and even the British royal family.
INDEPENDENT REVIEW
In their own statement, Andre Hoffmann and Larry Fink, co-chairs of the Geneva-based WEF, said an independent review conducted by outside counsel into Brende's ties with Epstein had concluded and had found no additional concerns beyond what has already been disclosed.
Brende told Norwegian business daily Dagens Naeringsliv that while the review had not uncovered any previously unknown issues relating to Epstein, the case risked drawing attention away from the forum's work.
He said he regretted he had not been more open about the dinners and subsequent communications he had with Epstein.
"Like many others, I have felt a great deal of discomfort at being linked to Jeffrey Epstein, and I was afraid that the contact would be portrayed as something other than what it was. That is the honest answer," Brende told the newspaper.
Text messages from 2018-19 released among the Epstein files appear to show a friendly tone between the two men, with Brende calling Epstein a "brilliant host" and saying "missing you Sir" after a dinner with Epstein, former Trump aide Steve Bannon and a former Norwegian government minister. Their last communication was a week before Epstein was arrested in 2019.
ZWINGGI TO SERVE AS INTERIM CEO
Hoffmann, vice-chair of Swiss pharma giant Roche, and Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, thanked Brende for his contributions to the forum.
"His dedication and leadership have been instrumental during a pivotal period of reforms for the organization, leading to a successful annual meeting in Davos," they said.
WEF Managing Director Alois Zwinggi will serve as interim president and CEO, and the forum's Board of Trustees would oversee the leadership transition, including a plan to identify a permanent successor, they added.
The U.S. Justice Department has released more than 3 million pages of documents relating to Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
His ties to a long list of business and political leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are under close scrutiny.
Abroad, the revelations have prompted criminal investigations of Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Duke of York, and other prominent figures.
Brende's resignation follows the departure last year of the WEF's founder and longstanding chair Klaus Schwab after he came under pressure from a whistleblower alleging misconduct.
The WEF subsequently said an internal investigation had found no evidence of material wrongdoing by Schwab.
(Reporting by Dave Graham and Gwladys Fouche Editing by Thomas Seythal and Alex Richardson)
