Harvard University has opened a new probe into the ties that its former president Larry Summers, and others at the institution had with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesperson confirmed.
In a statement to The Harvard Crimson, the university said it was “conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents”.
The announcement follows Summers’s earlier decision to step down from the board of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.
Recently released emails indicate that Summers corresponded with Epstein until the day before the financier’s 2019 arrest for the alleged sex trafficking of minors.
The BBC has contacted Summers for comment on Harvard’s new review.
On Tuesday, Summers addressed the topic of his communication with Epstein to students in a class he teaches at Harvard.
“Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein. And that I’ve said that I’m going to step back from public activity,” Summers told his students, according to a video recorded by a student.
“I think it’s very important to fulfill my teaching obligations. So with your permission, we’re going to go forward and talk about the material in the class.”
The public fallout began after Congress released over 20,000 pages of documents from the so-called Epstein files last week, which included multiple emails between Epstein and Summers.
Time stamps from the emails showed the two had communicated up until the day before Epstein’s arrest – a decade after he pleaded guilty for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
A married father of six, Summers messaged Epstein in November 2018 seemingly asking for romantic advice related to his interest in someone he said viewed him as an “economics mentor”.
“Think for now I’m going nowhere with her except economics mentor,” Summers wrote in one exchange where Epstein referred to himself as Summers’ “wing man”.
“Am I thanking her or being sorry re my being married. I think the former,” he wrote in another email.
The emails also indicated that Summers and Epstein dined together frequently, with Epstein often trying to connect Summers to prominent global figures.
No Epstein survivor has accused Summers of misconduct, and there is no publicly available evidence indicating that he was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.
After Summers announced he was stepping back from OpenAi on Wednesday, the artificial intelligence company said it respected Summers’ decision to resign.
“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” OpenAI said.
Summers said in a statement to the BBC about the move that he was “grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress”.
After the emails were shared with the public, Summers said he took “full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein”.
He added that he wanted “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me”.
Summers held senior posts under two Democratic presidents; serving as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, and as director of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama.
He led Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and remains a professor there. When announcing his step-down from public commitments earlier on Monday, he said he would continue his teaching commitments.
Following Summers’ announcement on Monday, the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington where Summers was a senior fellow, confirmed that Summers was no longer affiliated with the organisation.
Summers joined the board of OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, in 2023 – following a failed attempt to oust its chief executive Sam Altman.
Both chambers of Congress agreed on Tuesday to pass a measure to require the US justice department to release its files on Epstein, setting up the possible release of tens-of-thousands more documents.
The legislation is now headed to the desk of President Donald Trump for approval. He has said he plans to sign the bill, after reversing his position on the issue following pushback from his supporters.
