Published documents show close ties between a prominent economist and a disgraced sex offender.
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Published February 25, 2026
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has announced that he will resign as a professor at Harvard University at the end of this semester following revelations of his intimate relationship with disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Summers, a longtime influential figure in economic policymaking and a former president of Harvard University, announced Wednesday that he will step down from his teaching position at the end of this year.
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“In connection with the university’s ongoing investigation of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein recently released by the government, Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein has accepted Professor Lawrence H. Summers’ resignation from his leadership position as co-director of the Mosavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government,” Harvard University spokesperson Jason Newton said in a statement.
The documents, released as part of an effort to increase transparency about Mr. Epstein’s relationships with powerful people in politics, business and culture, shed light on Mr. Summers’ extensive correspondence with Mr. Epstein, revealing that Mr. Summers once sent Mr. Epstein an email asking for advice on wooing women.
Summers has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime, but he resigned from OpenAI’s board due to his relationship with Epstein and was still in contact with him as of July 2019.
“I take full responsibility for my wrong decision to continue to communicate with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement to US media after the Epstein files were released in November, when Harvard University announced a review of those named in documents compiled during the criminal investigation into Mr. Epstein.
Documents released in December also show Summers was named as Epstein’s successor executor in a draft of Epstein’s 2014 will, according to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper. The newspaper reported that a spokesperson for Summers denied having any knowledge of the matter.
