Its President and CEO, Børge Brende, who less than two years ago in May 2024, transitioned into full WEF leadership after Klaus Schwab's resignation, due to scandals linked to financial irregularities and sexual harassment by Schwab and senior WEF management. This was first published by the Financial Times (FT) and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), both "belonging" to the Murdoch media mogul. BlackRock is controlling Murdoch. 

BlackRock / Vanguard, i.e., Larry Fink is the WEF's chief financier and de facto owner of the WEF. He is a smooth operator.

The chain of command is clear.

Something very similar happened this time. FT and WSJ reported on the Børge Brende link to Epstein. Brende, first trying to play it down by "just a few dinner meetings", could not escape the truth revealed in the 3.5 million Epstein pages published with an AI-fueled search engine. It was easy to reveal all the multiple contacts of Brende's with the already in 2008 convicted sex-trafficking pedophile.

Over 20 e-mails and SMS exchanges between the two, indicated much more than just innocent dinner conversations (see also this).

The revelations prompted an internal investigation at the WEF and have now led to Brende's downfall and (forced) resignation.

"After careful consideration, I have decided to step down as president and CEO of the World Economic Forum. My time here, spanning eight and a half years, has been profoundly rewarding," Brende said in a statement on Thursday morning, 26 February 2025.

Surely, "rewarding" in more ways than one.

The WEF being headed by a pedophile was too strong for Larry Fink. He needed to pull the trigger, so to speak, to save his world-influencing, elite navel-gazing, billions-making "baby". But can he? The continuous downward trend is not only reflected at the top, but also within the staff – a toxic working ambiance, indeed, already referred to in the first FT articles two years ago.

A former Norwegian Foreign Minister, Børge Brende, is still a public figure in Norway. When at first the scandal erupted, Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, suggested that Brende stepped down as the WEF's chair. By doing so, Brende could have saved Norway and the WEF further reputational damage.

Since disclosure of the Epstein files, Norway has seen several public figures drawn into the controversy, including Crown Princess Mette-Marit and diplomats Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen. Former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland was charged with "gross corruption" earlier this month over his ties with Epstein.