Harvard to investigate Larry Summers’s Epstein ties as he exits OpenAI board
Harvard is set to launch a new investigation into its former university president and Bill Clinton economic adviser Larry Summers about his ties to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as it also emerged Summers has resigned from the board of OpenAI,The moves comes after Summers said he would be stepping back from public engagements after emails revealed the extent of his relationship with the late sex offender,A Harvard spokesperson confirmed to the Harvard Crimson on Tuesday night that a new investigation into Summers’s connections with the accused child sex trafficker was under way,The inquiry will also look at other university affiliates named in the documents, including Summers’s wife and nearly a dozen others,A Harvard spokesperson, Jonathan Swain, told the student newspaper that “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.
”Separately, the artificial intelligence company Open AI said in a statement that Summers had resigned from the company’s board.“Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision,” the company said.Summers confirmed the decision in a separate statement.Axios reported the news.Summers, who served as Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary, has also resigned or been let go from roles at other organizations, including Bloomberg and the New York Times, as well as the Center for American Progress thinktank.
Harvard’s investigation into Summers comes nearly a week after a congressional oversight committee released nearly 23,000 documents relating to Epstein that included correspondence with dozens on public figures, including Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus, and Summers’s wife, Elisa New, who is an English professor.In the exchanges between Epstein and Summers, he appears to solicit advice from the disgraced financier on his pursuit of a romantic relationship with a woman he described as his mentee.In one message from 2018, Epstein described himself as Summers’s “wingman”.On Monday, Summers announced he would be stepping back from public life after documents were released by the committee.“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” he said in a statement.
“I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein,While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me,”Summers indicated that he still planned to teach classes at the university,But the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren said he should not be trusted to teach or advise the government, saying the economist displayed “monumentally bad judgment” in his correspondence with the financier,During Epstein’s efforts to rehabilitate his reputation following a 2008 Florida state conviction for solicitation of a minor, he leant heavily on connections to Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), both located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, though he had not been a student at either.
Soon after Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, MIT said the institute would review its process for accepting donations after taking millions from foundations controlled by Epstein over a 20-year period.MIT’s former head, Joi Ito, was forced to resigned.In other emails released last week New appeared to discuss her projects with Epstein, and solicited money, including a potential $500,000 gift to Poetry in America, a television show and digital initiative she oversaw.“It really means a lot to me, all financial help aside, Jeffrey, that you are rooting for me and thinking about me,” New wrote in December 2015.Harvard’s investigation into Summers comes after the university issued its earlier report into its ties to Epstein, finding that Epstein donated about $9m to the school between 1998 and 2008.
Harvard had launched an investigation into the university’s ties to Epstein in the month’s after he died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex-trafficking minors.Lawrence Bacow, Harvard’s president at the time, said he “profoundly regrets Harvard’s past association with him”.“Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes were repulsive and reprehensible,” he said then.“Conduct such as his has no place in our society.”
Ocado shares fall 17% after US partner announces warehouse closures
The value of online grocer Ocado has fallen sharply after Kroger, its major partner in the US, announced the closure of three warehouses using the UK company’s high-tech equipment.Ocado signed a deal to build 20 automated warehouses – known as customer fulfilment centres – for Kroger, the US’s fourth largest retailer, in 2018. Eight of those facilities are currently operating with two more planned for next year. The deal was seen as a major part of Ocado’s plan to sell its online grocery delivery technology internationally.However, on Tuesday, Kroger said sites in Frederick in Maryland, Pleasant Prairie in Wisconsin, and Groveland in Florida would close in January
‘No contract, no coffee’: what to know about the Starbucks workers’ strike in over 40 US cities
Unionized Starbucks workers are threatening to expand a US strike against the world’s biggest coffee chain into “the largest and longest” in the company’s history – and urging customers to steer clear.Starbucks has said the vast majority of its cafes remain open, and expressed disappointment that Starbucks Workers United launched the strike.Negotiations over the ever first union contract for Starbucks workers in the US broke down in recent months. Both sides have blamed the other.Prominent politicians including Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect, have backed the striking workers
Nvidia earnings: Wall Street sighs with relief after AI wave doesn’t crash
Markets expectations around Wednesday’s quarterly earnings report by the most valuable publicly traded company in the world had risen to a fever pitch. Anxiety over billions in investment in artificial intelligence pervaded, in part because the US has been starved of reliable economic data by the recent government shutdown.Investors hoped that both questions would be in part answered by Nvidia’s earnings and by a jobs report due on Thursday morning.“This is a ‘So goes Nvidia, so goes the market’ kind of report,” Scott Martin, chief investment officer at Kingsview Wealth Management, told Bloomberg in a concise summary of market sentiment.The prospect of a market mood swing had built in advance of the earnings call, with options markets anticipating Nvidia’s shares could move 6%, or $280bn in value, up or down
‘We excel at every phase of AI’: Nvidia CEO quells Wall Street fears of AI bubble amid market selloff
Nvidia shares are rising in after-market trading after the company posted third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates. All eyes were on Nvidia, the bellwether for the AI industry and the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, as analysts and investors hoped the chipmaker’s third-quarter earnings would assuage concerns about whether the high-flying valuations of AI firms have peaked.Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvida, opened the earnings call with an attempt to dispel those concerns. In sum, Huang said, there’s a major transformation happening in AI and Nvidia is foundational to that transformation.“There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble,” said Huang
Wimbledon’s expansion plans heading for court of appeal after judge’s ruling
Wimbledon’s battle to build 39 new grass courts on a nearby golf course has taken a fresh twist after local residents were granted permission to take a judicial review case to the court of appeal.Last year the All England Club (AELTC) was given approval by Jules Pipe, the London deputy mayor for planning and regeneration, to build the courts on what used to be Wimbledon Park Golf Club – a decision that was then endorsed in the high court on 21 July. However, the Save Wimbledon Park pressure group challenged that verdict and on Monday it was announced that Lord Justice Holgate had granted a judicial review of the court’s decision.Explaining the reasons for granting the order, Holgate wrote that: “The grounds of appeal are arguable with a real prospect of success. The case law on scheme benefits, deliverability, relevance, material considerations and irrationality merits review
From the first ball to Bazball: everything you need to know about the Ashes
Can Ben Stokes really lead England to victory in Australia? Set your alarms and gird your loins, this one’s not just big, it’s positively BrobdingnagianEither it’s the start of the 2025-26 Ashes or Fred Dibnah’s Age of Steam on BBC Four is more watchable than we realised.England’s coach, the New Zealander Brendon McCullum, whose vibe is usually somewhere between Gen X slacker and Buddhist hippy, has called it “the biggest series of all our lives”. It could be career-defining for England – and career-staining for a great Australia side. All Ashes series are big; this one is positively Brobdingnagian.Well, England’s record on the last three tours is W0 D2 L13
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