Dozens of messages and text messages show: Børge Brende, CEO of the Davos World Economic Forum, is deeper in the Epstein swamp than previously known. A politically explosive chat statement could be his downfall.
February 21, 2026, 2:07 p.mFebruary 21, 2026, 2:07 p.m
Patrik Müller / ch media
“I had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” WEF boss Børge Brende assured the Norwegian newspaper “Aftenposten” in November 2025. By this point, other powerful people had long since admitted their contacts with the sex offender – and some resigned.
And this is what the text message exchange with the man with whom Brende “had nothing to do” sounded like:
“I’m really happy,” Brende wrote to Epstein, and suggested dinner at his place at 8:30 p.m. Answer: “Perfect.” Brende asked for the exact address. Epstein joked: “Jesus Christ. First door on the right.” Brende responded with “Hehe” before Epstein gave the address. It continued in this style. This chat exchange alone included 42 messages. It dates back to June 2019, the month after Epstein was arrested. He already had a criminal record.
WEF leader Børge Brende.Image: keystone
Brende had already been to Epstein’s home before, but wanted to be on the safe side with the very wealthy banker who had multiple residential addresses and asked about it.
Brende’s first documented meeting at Epstein’s home dates to March 15, 2018. Brende was thrilled. He then sent 16 text messages via his Swiss 079 cell phone number, and Epstein sent 15 back. The conversation began with Brende complimenting Epstein: He was a “brilliant host.” “Thank you my friend.”
The messages are documented in the Epstein Files released by the US Department of Justice. When Brende denied everything in November 2025, it was already foreseeable that the files would become public.
That’s why a WEF regular, Harvard professor Lawrence Summers, admitted everything and resigned from his positions, including at Harvard University and at the AI company OpenAI. Epstein had invited Summers, the treasury secretary under then US President Bill Clinton, to dinner – together with Brende and Steve Bannon:
In an email dated February 1, 2026 to the WEF Foundation Board, which is available to “Switzerland am Weekend,” Brende describes Epstein as a “monster”: “If I had known his background, I would not have even spoken to him.” He deeply regrets that he did not thoroughly investigate Epstein’s past.
But with his message to the top steering committee of the World Economic Forum, which includes 27 statesmen and top business leaders, some of whom are highly decorated, Brende is making everything worse. He claims that the “extent of his contacts” are limited to “three dinners” with Epstein and “a few emails and text messages.” But the files contain not just a few messages, but over 100 messages.
At the WEF you feel like you’ve been lied to three times
A WEF insider who otherwise appreciates Brende feels he has been “lied to three times”: Brende first denied knowing Epstein at all; then downplayed his contacts as a “few”; and assured on February 1, 2026 that he knew nothing of Epstein’s past.
Because with this statement to the WEF Board of Trustees, Brende also makes himself vulnerable. Documents show that Epstein himself informed the WEF boss about his dark past.
Epstein sent him a link to an article about it. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting minors for prostitution. He received a prison sentence of 18 months, of which he served around 13 months.
Brende wriggles out. He never even opened the link to the Epstein article. However, the Epstein files show that Brende acknowledged the link message with a thumbs-up symbol. “I was completely clueless about this link,” Brende said on Norwegian television. When asked, someone who knows Brende explains that he has the habit of acknowledging almost all messages with a thumbs up, which means nothing.
But even a close advisor to Brende from his time in Norway, where he was foreign minister, doesn’t buy it. Bard Ludvig Thorheim said this week in a newspaper published by the Norwegian publisher Schibsted, He doesn’t believe his former boss that he didn’t know anything about Epstein’s past.
Talked to Steve Bannon behind the scenes
The content of the messages exchanged caused outrage among the board of trustees, who had the affair investigated by the Zurich law firm Homburger. They show that Brende behaved disloyally towards his employer. Behind his back, Børge Brende spoke to Epstein, but also to former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, about the positioning of the World Economic Forum. Bannon was hostile to then WEF President Klaus Schwab – Brende’s boss.
On September 16, 2018, Epstein claimed: “Davos can really replace the UN.” Børge Brende agreed: “Exactly – we need a new global architecture. The World Economic Forum is uniquely positioned – public private.”
The WEF as a counter-UN? The idea is reminiscent of the peace council that Trump founded in Davos a month ago. This organization (“Board of Peace”) is intended to grow into a UN alternative. Brende left as WEF CEO for the inaugural show, the Trump team gave the main hall in the convention center.
Shortly after the UN email, as was so often the case in 2018 and 2019, there were mutual expressions of sympathy. Børge Brende wrote something like: “Trust me.” Epstein replied: “I do, 100 percent.” Both people often put smileys before or after their messages. Like in a male friendship.
What Brende hoped to achieve from this remains a mystery. Epstein’s motive, however, is obvious. He described himself as the “Concierge of Davos,” someone who, thanks to his connections, was able to open doors for participation or an appearance at the coveted annual congress. It helped to make the WEF CEO a buddy.
On September 25, 2018, Epstein again invited the WEF chief to his home in New York.
image: saw
It wasn’t just any day, but Brende’s 53rd birthday. Epstein congratulated him in advance by sending “53 candles” to the jubilee via email. At dinner: Steve Bannon again and the New York best-selling author Michael Wolff, who advised Epstein on PR matters. When asked, Brende said that he was in New York because of the UN and therefore not with his family.
Afterwards there were repeated short messages between the two. Brende sent the criminal greetings from two friends and added: “The only thing missing is your company.” Epstein thought it was “GREAT”.
Things get more intimate in the SMS. “Miss you,” it reads. Before Christmas 2018, Brende contacted Epstein: “Happy Christmas – I hope to see you in the new year.” Then the WEF chief bragged that Trump and 70 other heads of state were coming to Davos. Epstein: “You’re doing a brilliant job.” Brende: “Learning from the best.” By which he probably meant that he had learned from Epstein, the “best”. Then there were New Year’s congratulations and an exchange about how the annual meeting in Davos went.
In between, the two men tried to meet up and kept sending each other emails and text messages about where they were. “I’m in London, Geneva, Trondheim and Helsinki”. “Best regards from Moscow and Riyadh.” Later it finally worked again – in New York.
Shortly before the arrest at Epstein’s home
On July 6, 2019, a task force arrested Epstein at the airport. 20 days earlier, Brende was one of the last celebrities who were at Epstein’s home according to the files.
Before this meeting, the head of the World Economic Forum negotiated with Epstein’s assistant about what to eat: “Sushi would be wonderful!” wrote Brende. “Fantastic!!,” replied the assistant. She added a sentence that can be read ambiguously in connection with Epstein: whether Brende has a “favorite type”. In Epstein files with other actors, coded in this way, the question is not about culinary preferences, but about a specific type of woman.
The day before this meal, Brende made himself important in a text message to Epstein. “Just met your friend, the POTUS.” POTUS stands for US President Donald Trump. To which Epstein wrote back: “Check if you still have your wallet.” Brende: “I don’t have as much to lose as you do.”
Sexist statements about Israel’s first lady
17 days before Epstein’s arrest, the text message traffic picked up speed for the last time – and this could be the most politically explosive statement. Brende and Epstein also increasingly sent each other pictures. This also includes one from Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is blacked out in the Justice Department’s files; it appears to be an unflattering photo.
Epstein posted the photo in the chat and referred to Sara Netanyahu as “Miss Piggy” – a derogatory reference to the character from the Muppet Show. Brende found the photo “hilarious” – “very funny”. The Israeli embassy in Bern is currently checking this news, as “Switzerland at the Weekend” knows.
Brende told the Norwegian media about the “Miss Piggy” exchange that he should not have commented on the picture and called the nickname used unacceptable. Israel and the WEF maintain close relations; The Israeli president, the head of the central bank and many CEOs are regular guests at Davos.
Resignation before the end of the investigation?
Less than a year after the intrigue against WEF founder Klaus Schwab, another storm is brewing over the globally exposed organization. Schwab, who built the WEF and led it to success, resigned because of anonymous allegations that later vanished into thin air. By these standards, it would be surprising if top employee Brende was able to stay in office.
Even if his contacts with Epstein are not prosecutable, the accusations of lying are unlikely to be refuted. And a liar at the top, which “the WEF neither wants nor can afford,” as one insider puts it. The Homburger investigation should be available in two weeks. At the WEF headquarters in Cologny, some are expecting that Brende could resign before it is completed. (aargauerzeitung.ch)