Davos ‘Concierge’ Jeffrey Epstein Used WEF to Broker Elite Meetings
(Bloomberg) — Jeffrey Epstein claimed to “hate” the World Economic Forum, but for years he used the lure of its annual meeting in the Swiss Alps to trade influence and favors, describing himself as a “Davos concierge” as he brokered meetings for his friends and contacts.
Although it’s unclear how many times, if ever, he attended the event itself — the World Economic Forum declined to comment when asked — emails released by the US Department of Justice, along with a cache of messages from Epstein’s Yahoo account obtained by Bloomberg, show him working behind the scenes.
The emails show that before and after Epstein’s 2008 conviction on charges that include procuring a child for prostitution, he was offering to help his contacts navigate the event: assisting friends in securing better digs at the conference, which is chronically short of lodging; and promising to score meetings for them with billionaires and government officials. The DOJ files include messages between Epstein and the chief executive officer and president of the WEF, Borge Brende.
Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister, said in a statement that he had been completely “unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities.”
Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019 on charges of sexual trafficking of minors. He died in prison in Manhattan on Aug. 10, 2019. The death was ruled a suicide.
This story is based on emails and other documents released by the US DOJ as well as a cache of emails and attachments obtained last year by Bloomberg News. Bloomberg applied a series of tests on that cache — examinations that strongly authenticated a portion of the emails; corroborated important disclosures with independent sources; and vetted email headers and other metadata. Those tests found no inconsistencies suggesting tampering or fakery. Find details here.
The emails are quoted as they appear in the cache or the DOJ release, including spelling and grammatical errors.
Klaus Schwab, the Forum’s founder, who was the organization’s chairman until last year, is “certain” that he never met with Epstein, he said via a spokesperson.
Epstein’s messages around Davos show that he mixed opportunities for professional networking with suggestions of personal favors and innuendos.
In December 2009, six months after he was released from incarceration in Florida, he discussed Davos with Boris Nikolic, a US-based immunologist. “I am attaching you the most current list. It would be great if you can go over and recommend whom should I meet (either your friends, or anyone that would be beneficial,” Nikolic, a regular Davos attendee, wrote ahead of the January 2010 meeting. “I can organize a 1:1 meeting with most people there. One “virtual currency” I have is access ;).”
The next day, Epstein responded. “first lets decide if any of the waitresses or staff are cute. don’t forget priorities,” he wrote. “I will go through the list.”
The following year, Nikolic sought Epstein’s help in meeting Bill Gates — although Nikolic lamented that he was struggling to get time with the billionaire. “My dearest Davos Concierge, I hope that you now understand what I am going through as it is so hard getting a meeting with Bill,” he wrote to Epstein on Jan. 25, 2011. “I do not have his number but of his assistant who is sticking to the protocols.”
Epstein’s response to Nikolic is that the immunologist should try to get Gates to come to a dinner: “tell him that I thought he would have fun , tell him who will be attending,” Epstein wrote, before signing off his message “your truly„ the davos concierge.”
The emails do not show whether Nikolic and Gates met at the event.
Nikolic later became an advisor to Gates, according to his company website. He was named as a back-up executor in Epstein’s will.
Nikolic did not respond to a request for comment. He has previously said that he had no business ties with Epstein.
An email to the Gates Foundation and Gates Ventures for comments was not returned. Gates has said that he regrets knowing Epstein.
Among the other names that appear in Epstein’s Davos emails are senior figures in global business and politics. Emails from Epstein’s Yahoo account show that in January 2008, he connected Emirati billionaire Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem at the World Economic Forum to the then-European competition commissioner Peter Mandelson ahead of that year’s event. “Dear Peter,” bin Sulayem wrote on Jan. 17, “My friend Jeffrey Epstein suggested that we meet , i will be in Davos 23rd 24 and i leave on 25th at 3pm please e mail me which dates are suitable for you.”
The emails do not show whether the two men met at the event. Bin Sulayem did not respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Mandelson didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment. Mandelson has previously said he regrets his association with Epstein.
Two years later, at Davos 2010, Epstein arranged meetings with Mandelson and the then-UK chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling for the then-JP Morgan executive Jes Staley, according to messages uncovered during a review by the bank into Staley’s links with Epstein, later released in connection with a now-settled lawsuit that was filed against the bank.
Staley did not respond to requests for comment. Darling died in 2023.
On Dec. 22, 2013, Epstein wrote to Larry Summers, the former US secretary of the treasury, asking if he wanted to visit Epstein’s island in January, in an email released by the DOJ. Summers replied that he’d be in Davos at that time. “mongolia will be in davos.” Epstein replied. “we sholud cooridate a meeting for you.”
Summers joined a meeting of the Mongolia Presidential Advisory Board, a body formed to advise on the country’s economic development, at Davos in January 2014, to discuss the Asian country’s economic reforms, according to minutes of the meeting released by the DOJ. Epstein joined by phone, the minutes show.
Summers’ assistant wrote to Epstein on Feb. 20: “Larry asked that I send you wiring instructions for the Mongolian meeting he had in Davos” with Summers’ banking details enclosed. In a separate email on Feb. 28 to Epstein’s assistant released by the DOJ, which was partly redacted, an accountant at an organization called the International Peace Institute, says that they had wired Summers an honorarium for his work at the Mongolian Advisory Board.
A spokesperson for Summers didn’t return a message seeking comment. A spokesperson for the New York-based IPI, which also ran a secretariat supporting the Mongolia Advisory Board, didn’t return questions sent by email.
Six months later, Epstein asked Summers for a favor. A young woman with whom Epstein had previously corresponded was keen to be named a World Economic Forum Global Leader of Tomorrow.
On July 5, 2014, Epstein wrote Summers to ask him to write a reference for her. “Larry , I forgot to ask a favor, my very good friend you met once,” he wrote. “I could use a second nomination and a good word.”
Summers replied a few hours later asking Epstein what he should say in his recommendation. “Is she smart? Attractive? To what virtues am I to attest?” It’s not clear from the messages whether she was selected.
In early February of this year, the World Economic Forum opened an independent review into the ties between Epstein and its CEO, Brende. The Forum said in a statement that its independent review reflects the organization’s “commitment to transparency and maintaining its integrity” and was requested by Brende.
Files released by the DOJ show that Brende exchanged text messages with Epstein and attended two dinners with him, one in September 2018, a full decade after Epstein’s first conviction, and another on June 13, 2019, less than a month before his final arrest.
Brende has said that he informed Schwab about his interactions with Epstein before the release of messages by the DOJ, which Schwab has denied.
In his statement to Bloomberg, Brende said that if he’d known about Epstein’s criminal background, he would have declined the dinner invitations. “I could have conducted a more thorough investigation into Epstein’s history, and I regret not doing so,” he said, adding that “a few emails and SMS messages were the extent of my interactions.”
–With assistance from Harry Wilson, Jonathan Browning, Jeremy Hodges, Jan-Henrik Foerster and Fergal O’Brien.
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