WEF Probes President’s Links to Jeffrey Epstein

By Staff, Agencies

The World Economic Forum [WEF] has launched an internal probe into its president, Borge Brende, over his reported ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, after media reports said they discussed replacing the United Nations.

Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that WEF president Borge Brende, who has led the forum since 2017, met Epstein several times and exchanged messages with him, and agreed that the WEF could help build a “new global architecture” that might replace the UN.

Brende admitted he met Epstein in formal settings but said he was unaware of his crimes at the time, while US Justice Department documents show they communicated directly and dined together at least once.

The WEF said its board asked the Audit and Risk Committee to investigate Brende’s ties to Epstein, prompting an independent review into his meetings and message exchanges. Brende will remain in his role during the review but will not take part in the process.

Brende’s name appears over 60 times in newly released Epstein documents, but the WEF said this does not imply wrongdoing.

Brende said he met Jeffrey Epstein at a 2018 New York dinner where he was introduced as “an American investor,” and attended two similar dinners the following year, with a few emails and texts being the full extent of their contact.

“I was not fully aware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities,” he said, adding that he would have declined the invitation if he had known, and welcomed the independent review, saying it was requested “in fact” at his own initiative.

The controversy came after the US released over 3.5 million Epstein-related files on Jan. 30, naming figures like Trump, Musk, Gates, and Clinton. Epstein, charged with sex trafficking, died by suicide in jail in 2019.