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Ex-Treasury chief Lawrence Summers is departing from the board at the ChatGPT creator, just days after a batch of digital correspondence between him and late convicted sex offender the accused trafficker became publicly available.

He remarked in a statement that he was "grateful for the opportunity to have served, optimistic about the promise of the organization, and eagerly await observing their advancement".

The prominent academic, who once led Harvard University, stated on earlier this week that he would be scaling back from public roles due to his connections with Epstein.

Digital Correspondence

The recently released messages revealed that Summers communicated with Epstein until the 24 hours preceding his 2019 detention for suspected sex trafficking of minors.

In another announcement, the technology organization expressed it respected his choice to resign.

"We appreciate his numerous inputs and the viewpoint he offered to the directors," the company stated.

Political Context

This news comes after the two houses of the legislative branch agreed on recently to pass a bill that would require the Department of Justice to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

The measure will afterward move to the desk of the White House for signature. He has indicated he plans to sign the bill, after changing his position on the matter following pressure from his base.

Correspondence Findings

A batch of financier-linked messages disclosed by the House Oversight Committee last week included numerous well-known personalities in the financier's former circle, without suggesting any legal wrongdoing by those individuals.

The messages revealed that the economist and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had dinners together, with the billionaire often attempting to connect the official to notable global figures.

Individual Statement

After the emails were released with the public, he expressed he accepted "full responsibility for my ill-advised judgment to continue communicating with the financier".

He continued that he hoped "to rebuild faith and mend relationships with the people most important to me".

Professional History

The professor held high-level positions under two Democratic presidents; acting as Treasury chief under Bill Clinton, and as leader of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He led the institution from five years and is still a professor there. When stating his departure from public roles previously on Monday, he stated he would continue his teaching commitments.

Further Repercussions

Following the economist's announcement on Monday, the policy organization, a progressive think tank in Washington where the professor was a researcher, confirmed that he was not associated with the group.

Summers joined the leadership of the technology firm, which develops ChatGPT, in the previous year - following a defeated move to replace its CEO OpenAI's head.