Ex-president of Harvard University Larry Summers resigns over Epstein ties

Former president of Harvard University, Larry Summers, is going to resign from his position after the current academic year over his ties with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The news of his formal resignation comes “in connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government”, a Harvard spokesperson, Jason Newton, told The Guardian. The news was first reported by the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.

Summers also resigned from his post as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Centre for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has been in that position since 2011. The news was first reported by the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper. In a statement shared with the Guardian, Summers acknowledged that the decision to leave was “difficult”.

“I will always be grateful to the thousands of students and colleagues I have been privileged to teach and work with since coming to Harvard as a graduate student 50 years ago,” he added. “Free of formal responsibility, as President Emeritus and a retired professor, I look forward in time to engaging in research, analysis and commentary on a range of global economic issues," he added.

The newly released documents in the Epstein Files in 2025 reignited questions about Summers’ relationship with Epstein. In the emails found, Summers and Epstein muse on everything from politics and philanthropic endeavours to women. In one message from 2018, Epstein refers to himself as Summers’s “wingman”. He also gave the economist advice in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures being rebuffed.