Who is Larry Summers? Harvard professor and wife's Jeffrey Epstein connection explained amid email scandal

An email trail between convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and former president of Harvard University, Larry Summers has been revealed in the batch of newest Epstein files released recently by the House Oversight Committee.

Lawrence Henry Summers, who is more commonly known as Larry Summers, served as the Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001, during President Bill Clinton’s term in addition to serving as the director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, as per CNN.

Summers also held other important positions such as the Vice President of Development Economics and the Chief Economist of the World Bank. He was the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus of Harvard University. At present, Summers has been serving as a professor at Harvard University, and directs Harvard University’s Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government.

Summers is married to Elisa New, who is a professor emerita of American Literature at Harvard University. The couple tied the knot in 2005, as per New York Times. New’s name has also come up in news reports which investigate the link between her husband and Epstein.

About the connection between Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein

As per The Nation, Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein can be traced to 1998 when the Harvard professor’s name featured in Epstein’s flight logs.

The link between Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein first emerged in 2023 when a Wall Street Journal report revealed that the former Harvard president approached the child sex offender in 2014 with relation to funds for his wife’s project.

At the time, Summers, in an email to Epstein, mentioned his wife, Elisa New, and as per Wall Street Journal, wrote,

“I need small scale philanthropy advice. My life will be better if i raise $1m for Lisa. Mostly it will go to make it a pbs series and for teacher training. Ideas?” 

According to the publication, Epstein went on to invite Summers for dinner, which was one of the duo’s multiple meetings that year. Additionally, the news outlet reported that as per financial records, two years later, in 2016, Epstein made a $110,000 donation to New’s project.

Epstein and Summers reportedly conducted several meetings from 2013 to 2016. Wall Street Journal also reports that while Summers was president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006, Epstein made multiple donations worth millions to the university.

Through newly emerged email exchanges between Epstein and Summers, it appears that the men were confidants and shared personal opinions with each other, reports The Guardian. In addition to discussing Donald Trump, Summers also conferred about an interaction with an identified woman with Epstein. After Summers told the latter in an email that a woman turned down his advances, Epstein, as per The Guardian, wrote,

“shes smart. making you pay for past errors. ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.”

In an earlier email, Summer wrote to Epstein, according to CNN,

“I observed that half the IQ In world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population.”

The news outlet reported that a year later, Epstein, while offering Summers advice on dealing with women, and wrote,

“she’s already beginning to sound needy :) nice.”

In their discussions from the period about Trump, the two men discussed if the President was “steady crazy,” or “getting crazier,” notes CNN.

According to ABC News, Summers responded to the release of documents exploring his connection with Epstein, and in a recently released statement, said,

“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”

He also remarked that he would be withdrawing from his public roles at Harvard University “to rebuild trust,” but would continue teaching.