What happened
Thomas Pritzker Monday stepped down as executive chair of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, citing his “terrible judgment in maintaining contact” with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt fortune, is one of the most prominent Americans felled by an association with the late sex offender in the wake of the Justice Department’s release of millions of documents from its Epstein investigations.
Who said what
The “latest round of the Epstein files has effectively ended the careers of some of the world’s most powerful figures, from captains of industry to prominent attorneys,” Axios said. The fallout has been swifter overseas, including police investigations of former French Culture Minister Jack Lang, former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland and former British U.S. Ambassador Peter Mandelson, and potentially of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem of Dubai was ousted as chair and CEO of logistics firm DP World.
Pritzker, 75, joins a growing list of Americans also losing their jobs due to revelations in the Epstein files. In the last two weeks, Brad Karp stepped down as longtime head of the law firm Paul Weiss, Kathryn Ruemmler said she will resign as Goldman Sachs general counsel in June, and Casey Wasserman is selling his prominent Hollywood talent agency. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told CNN Monday she thought Wasserman “should step down” as chair of the L.A. 2028 Olympics committee, too.
Still, some “prominent Americans” with documented ties to Epstein, including President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, “have so far largely kept their positions of power,” NPR said. Stephen Bannon maintained daily contact with Epstein “when many of his friends were abandoning him,” offering advice on “how to handle resurrected allegations that he was a serial pedophile” up until Epstein’s arrest, The New York Times said.
What next?
“The revelations aren’t stopping,” Axios said, “with new names — and new recriminations — coming to light every day.” New Mexico lawmakers Monday passed legislation to open a bipartisan “truth commission” into Epstein’s Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe, where he is “accused of trafficking and sexually assaulting girls and women,” Reuters said. The investigation, which begins today and will deliver interim findings in July, “could pose risks” to any politicians, scientists, investors and “other high-profile individuals who visited the ranch.”
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