Davos forum ‘tainted’ by Epstein revelations – Putin envoy

The domain economical meeting place’s report has been “tainted” by revelations that its CEO Borge Brende reportedly had dinners with disgraced moneyman Jeffrey Epstein, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev has said.

Several documents among millions released by the US Justice Department last week, including Epstein's personal emails, mention Brende attending dinners with Epstein and communicating with him by email and text. In a statement on Thursday, the WEF said it had launched an investigation into the revelations.

According to Dmitriev, who also heads Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the disclosures and the ensuing probe undermine the credibility of the WEF and its flagship Davos forum in Switzerland.

“Davos’s reputation is so tainted,” Dmitriev wrote in a post on X on Friday, pitching Russia’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) as a better alternative. “All good people from the WEF should move to the [SPIEF] instead. The WEF can stay focused on discussing Epstein’s legacy and the lessons learned from his network-building.”

The WEF said Brende, who has served as CEO since 2017 and was previously Norwegian foreign minister, fully supports the investigation and requested it himself. Brende, in turn, claimed he met Epstein only in 2018 – a year before the disgraced financier’s death in a New York prison – and that three dinners and “a few emails and SMS messages,” allegedly strictly professional, constituted the full extent of their contact.

“I was completely unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities,” Brende insisted, as cited by Reuters, even though it’s widely known Epstein was convicted as a sex offender in 2008, years before the two met.

The Epstein files mention numerous high-profile Western figures, linking some to either Epstein’s sex trafficking network or questionable financial dealings. None have been charged so far, but the disclosures have prompted resignations, probes, and reviews worldwide, with all those named denying wrongdoing.

Commenting on the files, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the West of covering up Epstein’s crimes, arguing the case exposes the hypocrisy of a justice system that shields elites.

“Nothing in the West is investigated – just like the Epstein case – when it implicates ‘global elites,’” she wrote in a Telegram post on Friday. “Ironically, their crimes are now captured in photos and videos – and yet, they claim ‘it’s not all that clear.’”

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