Ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers quits Harvard over Epstein probe

February 25, 2026

Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Harvard president, is stepping down from all his positions at Harvard University following an institutional investigation into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The decision follows the release of Justice Department documents showing Summers maintained contact with Epstein until just before the financier's 2019 arrest, including correspondence where Epstein acted as his "wing man" for romantic matters and facilitated meetings with influential people. Similarly, Columbia University neuroscientist Richard Axel resigned from his leadership position after documents revealed his connections to Epstein, including visiting Epstein's private island and attempting to help secure university admission for someone at Epstein's request.

Who is affected

Larry Summers (former Harvard president and Treasury Secretary)
Richard Axel (Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist)
Harvard University and its Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government
Columbia University and its Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute
Harvard students who were taught by Summers
OpenAI (Summers previously resigned from its board)
Alice de Rothschild (whose Columbia admission Axel attempted to facilitate)

What action is being taken

Harvard is conducting an ongoing review of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein
Summers is resigning as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center and retiring from his academic and faculty posts at Harvard
Axel is leaving his leadership role at Columbia's Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute while retaining his professorship and continuing research

Why it matters

This matters because it demonstrates how prestigious academic institutions are finally holding senior faculty accountable for their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, even years after his death and conviction. The resignations of two highly prominent figures—a former Treasury Secretary and Harvard president, and a Nobel Prize winner—show that maintaining ties with a convicted sex offender has serious professional consequences, regardless of whether the individuals were involved in criminal activity. It also raises questions about how Epstein leveraged these academic relationships to gain legitimacy and access to elite institutions, potentially using influential academics to facilitate favors like university admissions.

What's next

No explicit next steps stated in the article

Read full article from source: BBC