Ex-Treasury Chief Takes Sudden Leave From Harvard After Emails Reveal Ongoing Epstein Ties
Ex-Treasury chief quits teaching amid damning email revelations.
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, once hailed as part of the "Committee to Save the World," has abruptly taken leave from his Harvard University teaching duties following the release of emails exposing his sustained correspondence with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein years after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. The 70-year-old economist, who previously served as Harvard president and a top Obama advisor, announced the step back on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, amid mounting scrutiny from lawmakers, academics, and the public.
The newly disclosed emails, unearthed by the House Oversight Committee from over 20,000 Epstein estate documents, reveal a chummy exchange where Summers sought Epstein's counsel on a personal interaction with a woman in 2019, describing her coy response and receiving Epstein's garbled reply praising his "strentgh" for not whining. Summers has publicly expressed "great regrets" over the association, labeling it a "major error in judgment," while no evidence links him to Epstein's sex trafficking crimes. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of abusing and trafficking underage girls.
Summers' retreat extends beyond Harvard: He resigned from OpenAI's board—the AI firm behind ChatGPT—effective immediately, severed ties with the progressive Center for American Progress and Yale's Budget Lab, and pledged to pause all public commitments to "rebuild trust." Harvard has initiated a formal review of individuals named in the Epstein files, including Summers, who directed the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government; his co-teachers will handle remaining classes this semester, with no plans for his return next term. Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the ties as "monumentally bad judgment," urging institutions to cut connections.
President Donald Trump's administration has amplified the controversy, with the Justice Department launching a probe into Epstein's links to Summers, former President Bill Clinton, and donor Reid Hoffman, led by a top federal prosecutor—reversing earlier findings of insufficient grounds for further scrutiny. This investigation arrives months after similar Epstein file releases and coincides with a congressional push for full disclosure of remaining documents.
Summers' storied career, marked by early Harvard tenure at age 28, World Bank leadership, and Clinton-era roles combating the Asian financial crisis alongside Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan, now faces reevaluation through the lens of deregulation advocacy and a 2005 Harvard speech implying innate gender differences in STEM aptitude, which sparked faculty revolt and his 2006 resignation. Despite close Obama ties that nearly landed him Federal Reserve chair—thwarted by Senate doubts—his Epstein entanglement underscores persistent criticisms of elite networks and accountability in power circles.
