Prestigious Economist Forced to Step Down Following Epstein Revelations
Lawrence 'Larry' Summers, one of America's most influential economists and former Treasury Secretary, has abruptly ended his teaching career at Harvard University following the disclosure of compromising emails with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The 70-year-old academic, who served as Harvard's president between 2001 and 2006, was captured on video apologising to students in a Harvard auditorium this week. "Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame, with respect to what I did in communication with Mr [Jeffrey] Epstein," Summers told the classroom.
By Wednesday, the Harvard president emeritus announced he would cease teaching and take leave while the institution investigates his connections to Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Damning Email Correspondence Revealed
The scandal erupted when the House Oversight Committee released approximately 20,000 emails obtained from Epstein's estate last week. The correspondence reveals Summers maintained a close relationship with the disgraced financier long after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution in Florida.
In one particularly damaging message from March 2019, Summers - a married father of six - asked Epstein for advice on "getting horizontal" with a woman he described as a mentee. The economist complained: "I dint [sic] want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits."
Epstein had previously joked about serving as a "wing man" for Summers, whose wife of 20 years, Elisa New, is a professor of American literature at Harvard.
Harvard's Deep Epstein Connections Exposed
The controversy extends far beyond Summers, exposing what appears to be a deeply entrenched relationship between Epstein and America's oldest university. According to Harvard's own 2020 report commissioned after Epstein's 2019 arrest, the institution began courting the Brooklyn-born financier as early as 1992.
Epstein made his first donation to Harvard in 1998, eventually contributing $9 million between 1998 and July 2007. The university spent all but $200,000 of these funds, later donating the remainder to charities assisting sexual abuse victims.
Despite Epstein being a college dropout with no undergraduate degree, he was approved as a visiting fellow at Harvard's psychology department in September 2005. Professor Stephen Kosslyn recommended him for the prestigious position, having received $200,000 from Epstein between 1998 and 2002 to support his work.
The 2020 report noted an administrator recalled Epstein appearing at registration "accompanied by several women who appeared to be in their 20s."
Epstein's Campaign to Burnish His Reputation
Epstein actively used his Harvard connections to rehabilitate his public image following his 2006 conviction. In 2013, his publicist wrote to the Harvard institute he helped fund, requesting: "Jeffrey is trying to boost his foundation's websites and a link on Harvard's network would be very helpful."
A year later, when Professor Martin Nowak - head of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics (PED) that received Epstein's largest donation of $6.5 million - needed more funds, he agreed to dedicate an entire webpage on the Harvard domain to Epstein, complete with a flattering photograph.
The university's PED institute studied human evolution, an interest Epstein took to disturbing extremes. A New York Times report revealed he wanted to use his New Mexico ranch to "seed" women with his DNA and establish a master race.
Harvard finally closed the PED facility in 2021 following Epstein's final arrest in July 2019. Professor Nowak was placed on leave with full pay in 2021 but resumed teaching by May 2023 and remains at the university.
Fallout and Institutional Accountability
The Summers episode represents the latest chapter in the ongoing reckoning between elite institutions and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein. Despite Epstein being told to stop donating in 2007, he repeatedly attempted to funnel more money into Harvard through professors whose work he bankrolled.
Lawrence Bacow, Harvard president from 2018-23, stated the university would return only $200,937 of Epstein's $9.1 million in donations because that was all that "remained unspent."
Neither Harvard University nor Larry Summers responded to requests for comment as the investigation into their connections continues.
