An article in The Harvard Crimson in 2003, during Summers's tenure as president, detailed a reportedly "special connection" between Summers and Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein pledged to donate at least $25 million to Harvard during Summers's tenure to endow Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, and Epstein was given an office at Harvard for his personal use. Summers's ties to Epstein reportedly began "a number of years...before Summers became Harvard's president and even before he was the Secretary of the Treasury." Flight records show that Summers flew on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane on at least four occasions.

Summers issued a statement that his association with Epstein was "a major error of judgement".

On November 19, Summers resigned from the OpenAI board following the release of the Epstein emails. And as of Feb 2026, has resigned from Harvard