Billionaire Thomas J. Pritzker announced his resignation as executive chairman of the board of directors of Hyatt Hotels Corporation due to connections with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, which became publicly known following the release of the so-called Epstein files by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Hyatt Hotels announced his resignation through a press release.
"I made a terrible mistake by maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for not distancing myself from them earlier," Pritzker said in a letter to the company's board of directors.
According to documents from the Department of Justice, Pritzker regularly communicated with Epstein even after his conviction for sexual crimes in 2008. Epstein died in prison in 2019.
Thomas J. Pritzker is one of 13 billionaire heirs of the Pritzker family. He has been on the board of directors of Hyatt and has served as executive chairman since August 2004, while he began serving as a senior executive and chairman in predecessor companies as early as 1980.
The history of Hyatt dates back to 1957 when Tom's father, Jay Pritzker, acquired the first Hyatt House motel near Los Angeles International Airport. The company now has over 1,500 hotels and resorts in 83 countries across six continents.
The new chairman of the board of directors of Hyatt is the current president and CEO of the company, Mark Hoplamazian.
Pritzker's resignation is part of a wave of high-profile departures triggered by the release of the "Epstein files." Already, Goldman Sachs' chief legal officer, Kathryn Ruemmler, and the head of the world's largest port operator, DP World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, have lost their positions.
Leave a comment