Larry Summers took a step back from his teaching duties late last year amid a review into his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. | Michel Euler/AP
Larry Summers, the embattled former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, is leaving his teaching post at the higher education institution at the end of the academic year, as the fallout over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein continues to spill into public view.
“I have made the difficult decision to retire from my Harvard professorship,” Summers said in a statement Wednesday. “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.“
Summers took a step back from his teaching duties late last year — and also left his job as director of Harvard’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government — amid a review into his ties to the late convicted sex offender.
A series of releases from the Department of Justice and House Oversight Committee, with millions of previously undisclosed documents now public, has roiled academic and international financial institutions, current and former elected officials at the highest level of American politics as well as the media industry.
Former President Bill Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and MAGA stalwart Steve Bannon are among the many public figures whose connections to Epstein have been made public. All have denied wrongdoing. In Europe, it’s led to the arrest and sacking of Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the U.S., and the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew. Both have also denied criminal wrongdoing.
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton confirmed in a statement that Summers would be retiring. The Harvard Crimson was first to report that Summers planned to retire.
Summers came under fire last November after a tranche of emails released by the House Oversight Committee revealed that he’d sought Epstein’s advice about pursuing a relationship with a mentee — among other communication — just before the financier’s 2019 arrest.
Epstein referred to himself as the former Treasury secretary’s “wing man” in one email. Summers and his wife, Elisa New, visited Epstein’s private island during their honeymoon in 2005.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” Summers told POLITICO in November. “I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”
Summers has not been charged with a crime.
Summers stepped back from his public commitments shortly after the emails were released, and left the board of the OpenAI Foundation several days later. He also left high-profile posts at the Center for American Progress, Bloomberg News, the Brookings Institution and Yale Budget Lab, among other spots.
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Via https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/25/larry-summers-resigns-harvard-epstein-00798100
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