Børge Brende

Børge Brende is a Norwegian politician who served as Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2017 and earlier held cabinet posts including Minister of the Environment and Minister of Trade and Industry. In October 2017 he became President and CEO of the World Economic Forum, the organization that convenes the annual Davos meeting, a role he held until February 2026.

Brende is listed among people named in reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein files. According to reporting on the released files, Brende exchanged more than 120 emails and text messages with Epstein and was a guest at several dinners at Epstein’s townhouse in New York City; the reporting adds that a photograph shows Brende at Epstein’s New York home alongside Steve Bannon and Terje Rød-Larsen, and that Brende said he was introduced to Epstein by Rød-Larsen.

Brende’s own account differs in scale from the figures cited above. According to Al Jazeera, in his resignation statement Brende said he had three business dinners with Epstein — one in 2018 and two in 2019 — and exchanged “a few emails and SMS messages,” which he described as “the extent of my interactions with him.” Al Jazeera reported that Brende said he was “completely unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities” and expressed regret for not investigating Epstein’s background more thoroughly. The World Economic Forum opened an independent review of the relationship conducted by outside counsel; per Al Jazeera, co-chairs André Hoffmann and Larry Fink said the review found no additional concerns beyond what had previously been disclosed. Brende resigned as the Forum’s president and CEO on February 26, 2026, and Alois Zwinggi was named interim president and CEO.

Is Børge Brende in the Epstein files?

Yes. Børge Brende, the former Norwegian foreign minister who served as President of the World Economic Forum until February 2026, is named in reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein files. Reporting on the released files indicates he exchanged more than 120 emails and texts with Epstein and attended dinners at Epstein’s New York townhouse, while Brende himself described his contact as three business dinners and “a few emails and SMS messages” and said he was unaware of Epstein’s criminal history. He resigned from the World Economic Forum on February 26, 2026, following the scrutiny.

Being named in the files is not evidence of any crime or wrongdoing. People appear in these documents in many contexts — correspondence, flight logs, contact books, scheduling, photographs, or passing references. See the sources above for the specific, documented context, and the note at the bottom of this page.

Documents

Primary-source records that reference Børge Brende. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing; Brende said he was unaware of Epstein’s criminal history and described his contact as three business dinners and a few emails and texts.

• DOJ Epstein Files (EFTA release) — The emails and text messages between Brende and Epstein are part of the Justice Department’s Epstein Files Transparency Act disclosure (the roughly 3-million-page release made in late 2025 and early 2026). Reporting on the release (CNN, Al Jazeera) describes the correspondence and dinners that prompted the World Economic Forum’s independent review and Brende’s February 2026 resignation.