World Economic Forum faces fresh scrutiny as Epstein ties revive past scandals, criticism

The ghost of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has struck again. 

This time, even though he died in 2019, he is still adding to the stress and criticism of the World Economic Forum.

On Feb. 26, WEF President and CEO Børge Brende resigned after revelations he had three dinners and some emails and SMS communication with Epstein. His ouster followed an independent investigation earlier in February. 

Brende said he wasn't aware of Epstein's sex crimes. 

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"Had I known about his background, I would have declined the initial invitation to join Rod-Larsen and any subsequent dinner invitations or other communications," he said.

That response hasn't been well received by observers given that Epstein's conviction occurred in 2008 and would have been easy to uncover. As Norway's foreign minister from 2013 to 2017, perhaps he should have been more cautious, some observers say.

"If you are standing on a public stage, you have to know who you are standing with," said Ben Habib, right-leaning leader of the British political party Advance UK and an entrepreneur.

Alan Mendoza, founder of the U.K.-based Henry Jackson Society, added, "The moral is that people in positions of authority should be very careful with whom they have dinner."

 Mendoza also wonders how many people with a criminal record have attended the WEF.

The news of Brende's resignation comes hot on the heels of other scandals and bad publicity for the WEF, commonly known as Davos after the Swiss village in the Alps where the annual meeting takes place. Last year, Klaus Schwab, the founder of the WEF, stepped down in July after accusations he had misused WEF funds and treated employees inappropriately. 

Both Schwab and his wife were ultimately cleared by the WEF board of any material wrongdoing, though a board of trustees statement noted in part that, "Minor irregularities, stemming from blurred lines between personal contributions and Forum operations, reflect deep commitment rather than intent of misconduct."

Others have a beef with the WEF. Two years ago, Argentinian President Javier Milei spoke at Davos.

"The Western world is in danger," Milei said. "It is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty."

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Milei also noted that many countries have ditched freedom for collectivism, aka socialism.

"We're here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that afflict the citizens of the world; rather, they are the root cause," he said at Davos in 2024.

Since 2023, when Milei took office as Argentina's president, inflation has dropped from more than 200% to 32%, according to data from Trading Economics.

Likewise, others have a lot to tell the WEF, most of it not positive.

"Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America," U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at this year's Davos meeting. "It's a failed policy. It is what the WEF has stood for."

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The fact is, America has been left behind in the global economy as the WEF has encouraged the offshoring of manufacturing to places with cheap labor, Lutnick said. He also encouraged other countries to follow the "America First" model, which is that the workers come first.

Lutnick also attacked Europe's alternative energy push, which includes solar and wind energy. 

"Why would Europe agree to be net zero in 2030 when they don't make a battery?" he wondered at Davos. Achieving net-zero means countries aim to have no increase in overall carbon emissions by 2050.

But if Europe does pursue net zero, then the EU will be subservient to communist China, Lutnick says. China is by far the dominant producer, accounting for approximately one-third of global renewable energy, compared with 11% in the U.S.

"The WEF is the embodiment of power and wealth," Habib said. "Big money is diverting policy. It's fascism." He says the world may have been tricked into believing the economic promises made by globalist organizations. 

"The shine is now off. It is failing and not gaining traction," Habib said. 

The WEF isn't the only organization that is running roughshod over multiple countries. The European Union is also doing similar work with the countries in its bloc through a multitude of regulations, Habib said.

THE Associated Press contributed to this report.