(LifeSiteNews) — Børge Brende, president and CEO of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has resigned after the WEF launched an investigation into his business ties with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to step down as President and CEO of the World Economic Forum,” Brende wrote in a Thursday statement, The Guardian reported. “My time here, spanning 8½ years, has been profoundly rewarding.”
“I believe now is the right moment for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions,” he concluded. The WEF head formerly served as the Foreign Affairs Minister of Norway from 2013 to 2017.
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recent release of Epstein files revealed that Brende met with Epstein for three business dinners in 2018 and 2019 and exchanged texts and emails with him, despite Brende’s denial in November that he had any contact with Epstein.
The WEF confirmed to Politico that it has begun an independent investigation of Brende’s relationship with Epstein, which it said Brende “requested and is cooperating with.”
READ: Epstein Files have exposed the institutional evil of the British ruling class
Before Brende’s first dinner with Epstein, the two discussed the importance of the WEF for the entire world, with its CEO declaring that “we need a new global architecture,” and that Davos (the WEF) is “uniquely positioned” to help provide this.
“Davos can really replace the U.N.,” Epstein wrote. “Cyber, crypto, genetics. Intl [sic] coordination. Like my stint at the trilateral (commission).”
The financier and sex trafficker described part of the mission of the Trilateral Commission as “engaging with decision makers around the world with the aim of finding solutions to the great geopolitical, economic, and social challenges of our time.” He then suggested Davos would help “bring this into the 21st century.”
Exchanges between the two indicate Brende was fond of Epstein. “Missing you Sir,” the WEF CEO wrote to Epstein in a 2018 text less than a month after his “very interesting dinner” with him.
However, Brende said he had been “completely unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities” and that he would have turned down any invitations had he been aware of this.
“I recognize that I could have conducted a more thorough investigation into Epstein’s history, and I regret not doing so,” he said, according to Politico.