Billionaire Hyatt hotel heir Thomas Pritzker is stepping down from the corporation's board of directors over his admitted association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Pritzker, Hyatt Hotels' executive chairman and the cousin of Illinois' Democratic Governor JB Pritzker, becomes the latest member of the elite to face consequences over the Epstein files. In a statement, Pritzker apologized for his connection to the billionaire financier. 'Good stewardship also means protecting Hyatt, particularly in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell which I deeply regret,' he said. Pritzker - who has not been charged in connection with the Epstein case and strongly denies any wrongdoing - will retire from his position and will not seek re-election to the board of directors at a May stockholders' meeting. 'I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner,' Pritzker added.
Hyatt Chairman steps down
Pritzker features in the most recent drop by the Department of Justice in Epstein's flight logs on the infamous '[expletive] Express.' He was also emailed by the now deceased financier regarding an August 2015 dinner Epstein had with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg seated at a dinner table alongside SpaceX boss Elon Musk , and Joi Ito, the former director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Epstein, who died in a high-security Manhattan prison in 2019, later described the gathering in an August 20, 2015 email to billionaire Tom Pritzker as 'wild', a description that has resurfaced as scrutiny intensifies around the financier's relationships with powerful figures. Pritzker in 2023 was among three billionaires issued with subpoenas in relation to Epstein. The probe by the US Virgin Islands concerns allegations that JP Morgan Chase and Co . turned a blind eye to Epstein's sexual trafficking.
The Hyatt resignation
He was formally identified in unsealed papers after a judge lifted a secrecy order on additional names of Epstein's rich and powerful associates cited in files related to Giuffre's 2015 defamation case against his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. Thomas's father Jay and uncle Donald created the Hyatt chain in 1957 and it now has more than 1,000 properties spanning more than 70 countries worldwide. The Hyatt Hotel chain includes hotels operating under the Hyatt brand such as the Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Place. They also run high-end brands such as Miraval, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, and Dream Hotels. Thomas Pritzker has served as executive chair since August of 2004 and began working at the company in 1980. Pritzker - who has strongly denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein - is the latest wealthy, powerful person to face consequences for cavorting with the deceased sexual offender. The chairman of major law firm Paul Weiss resigned hours after saying he regretted asking Jeffrey Epstein to help get his son a job working for Woody Allen.
The Paul Weiss exit
Brad Karp stepped down earlier this month following the revelations of his ties to Epstein. 'Leading Paul, Weiss for the past 18 years has been the honor of my professional life,' Karp said in a statement. 'Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm.' The firm gave no concrete reason for Karp's departure but said partner Scott Barshay will take over for him as chairman going forward. Karp had spent his entire 40-year legal career at the major firm and been chairman since 2008. Harvard University professor and former presidential advisor Larry Summers resigned after he was exposed for sending emails seeking romantic advice from Epstein. In email exchanges dated between 2013 and 2019, Summers and Epstein frequently shared their thoughts about current events and politics - while also delving into the married economics professor's love life.
Veteran economist Summers, 70, complained to the now-disgraced financier about feeling like 'the friend without benefits' in his relationship with one woman who jilted him in 2019, and asked him for tips on how to reply to her texts. This was long after Epstein's guilty plea to sexual crimes against children in 2008 - and Harvard had already stopped accepting donations from him the previous year in light of the allegations. Summers, who once served as the US Treasury Secretary, did not conduct the last few lectures of his class for the fall semester and will not teach any courses in the spring. The economist, who once also served as the president of the prestigious university>, also took an immediate leave from his position as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. 'Mr. Summers has decided it's in the best interest of the Center for him to go on leave from his role as director as Harvard undertakes its review,' the spokesperson said.
A university representative has since confirmed Summers shared his intentions with the school, which had announced hours earlier it is conducting a 'review of information concerning individuals included in the newly-released Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted.' The former White House counsel under President Obama has resigned from Goldman Sachs over her ties to Epstein . Kathryn Ruemmler, who works as general counsel at Goldman, said she will resign this summer after emails released by the Justice Department revealed her conversations with Epstein, according to The Financial Times. 'I made the determination that the media attention on me, relating to my prior work as a defense attorney, was becoming a distraction,' Ruemmler told the publication. She will exit the firm on June 30.