Harvard to investigate community ties to Jeffrey Epstein after Summers named in email trove

Harvard University is opening an investigation into ties between school community members and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.

"The University is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted," a university spokesperson said in a statement.

The school did not specify the scope of the review, who would be targeted in the investigation or whether those members would continue working at Harvard while the review was ongoing.

Harvard announced the move after a trove of Epstein's emails released Nov. 12 revealed the depth of Larry Summers' correspondence with Epstein.

Other members of the Harvard community were also named in the document dump, including Summers' wife, professor Elisa New, and professor Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz, a lawyer, was part of the team representing Epstein in a 2008 criminal case.

Following the release of the documents, Summers announced he would step back from public commitments but "fulfill my teaching obligations." He said in a statement he was "deeply ashamed" of his continued contact with Epstein.

Summers has since stepped down from OpenAI's board of directors, his spokesperson confirmed. He also had a one-year contract with the New York Times opinion section that began in January 2025. The news organization told WBUR on Wednesday that they "do not intend to renew this contract."

Summers was president of the university from from 2001 to 2006. He served as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called on Harvard, her former employer, to cut ties with Summers. In comments to CNN on Monday, she called Summers' continuing relationship with Epstein "monumentally bad judgment."

"If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein’s sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers, and institutions — or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else," Warren said.

Epstein first pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for sex in 2008. He faced accusations of trafficking and sexually abusing minors for years after. The emails released by the U.S. House Oversight Committee last week show that Summers maintained a close relationship with Epstein at least into 2018. Epstein was arrested again in 2019 for sex trafficking of minors, and died in jail later that year.

Harvard confirmed the investigation a day after the House and Senate voted to force the Department of Justice to release its files on Epstein.