Borge Brende has stepped down as president and chief executive of the World Economic Forum (WEF), weeks after the organization initiated an external review into his past contacts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Brende, who has led the Geneva-based institution since 2017, announced his resignation in a statement issued after documents made public by the US Justice Department showed he attended three business dinners with Epstein and exchanged emails and text messages with him. His public remarks did not reference Epstein directly.

In his statement, Brende described his eight-and-a-half-year tenure as deeply meaningful and said the timing of his departure would allow the Forum to continue its work without disruption. A former foreign minister of Norway, he has previously maintained that when he first met Epstein in 2018 he was not aware of the financier’s criminal background, later expressing regret that he had not conducted more thorough checks.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Renewed scrutiny of his network has unsettled political and corporate circles internationally, extending even to members of the British royal family.

Andre Hoffmann and Larry Fink, co-chairs of the WEF, confirmed in a separate statement that the independent assessment carried out by external legal counsel into Brende’s connections had been finalized. According to their account, the review found no issues beyond those already made public.

They added that Alois Zwinggi will assume the role of interim president and CEO, while the Forum’s Board of Trustees supervises the transition process and begins identifying a permanent successor.

The US Justice Department has disclosed more than three million pages of material related to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while in custody awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. The released records have intensified examination of his relationships with numerous high-profile figures, among them US President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk. In the United Kingdom, the fallout has led to criminal investigations involving Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Duke of York, along with other prominent individuals.