"Close Ties to Billionaire Sex Offender" Hyatt Chairman Abruptly Resigns: "No Excuse"

Gives Up Management Control After Being Named in the "Epstein Files"
"Network Risk" Spreads to Politics and the LA Olympic Organizing Committee

Thomas Pritzker, Executive Chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, whose close relationship with the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has come to light, resigned on the 16th (local time).

U.S. billionaire Epstein charged with 'sexual crimes against minors'. Yonhap News Agency

The Pritzker Organization (TPO), which manages the Pritzker family's business assets, announced in a press release that day that Chairman Pritzker has stepped down not only as Executive Chairman, but also as Chairman of the Board and as a director.

In his resignation statement, he said, "I deeply regret my relationships with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell," and bowed his head, saying, "Maintaining contact with them was a grave error in judgment, and there is no excuse for not distancing myself from them sooner."

This move comes after the so-called "Epstein files," recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice, officially confirmed that he had maintained a close relationship with Epstein.

Thomas Pritzker has served as Executive Chairman of Hyatt since 2004 and led the company's initial public offering (IPO) in 2009. Hyatt is a hotel chain that began in 1957 when his father, Jay Pritzker, acquired a motel near Los Angeles, and to this day the Pritzker family continues to wield significant influence over the company through TPO.

The fallout from this scandal is spreading beyond Hyatt to American society at large. In the wake of the "Epstein files," Casey Wasserman, chairman of the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, is moving to sell his company amid mounting pressure to resign, and Cathy Rumler, General Counsel of Goldman Sachs, and prominent influencer Peter Attia have also stepped down from their positions.

Cathy Rumler, who served as White House Counsel in the Obama administration and later as General Counsel of Goldman Sachs, and Brad Karp, Chairman of the Executive Committee at the corporate law firm Paul, Weiss, have also left their current posts.

In addition, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is facing calls to resign from lawmakers in both the Democratic and Republican parties after his deep ties to Epstein were revealed.