President of Kevin Rudd’s International Peace Institute quits over Jeffrey Epstein loan

Terje Rod-Larsen apologised to the International Peace Institute board for his ‘failed judgment’ in securing a loan from Epstein.

IPI president Terje Rød-Larsen with Kevin Rudd.

The president of the International Peace Institute has resigned after the New York think tank – chaired by former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd – discovered he had borrowed money from US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Terje Rod-Larsen apologised to the board of the United Nations-affiliated institute for his “failed judgment” after it was revealed he personally secured a $US130,000 loan and a string of donations from the convicted pedophile.

“Epstein’s crimes were hideous,” the think tank said in a statement. “The notion that IPI would be in any way engaged with such an odious character is repugnant to the institution’s core values.”

Mr Rod-Larsen’s shock departure comes after Mr Rudd convened an extraordinary board meeting overnight to deal “swiftly” with the fallout from the growing scandal that has engulfed the prestigious 50-year-old think tank.

Former PM Kevin Rudd. Picture: Kym Smith

Current vice-president Adam Lupel has been appointed acting president and will oversee an “immediate” audit of the institute’s finances in an effort to ensure that every donation from foundations set up by Epstein had been identified.

“Epstein’s foundations collectively donated more than $30 million to dozens of charitable and teaching institutions prior to his death,” the think tank said. “Although many institutions have decided to keep some or all of these donations, the IPI Board takes the strict view that every dollar should be re-donated.”

The IPI said the board were “unaware” of Mr Rod-Larsen’s decision to secure donations and a personal loan from Epstein in 2013.

It also denied allegations that the IPI misused the organisation’s funds to pay off Epstein in a bid to shore-up future financial support from the pedophile financier.

“IPI’s financial officers have confirmed to the Board that no payment has ever been made by IPI to Epstein, despite some press speculation to the contrary.”

On Thursday, Mr Rudd said the IPI acted swiftly to deal with links to Epstein, even though he had known of the connection for more than a year.

Years after Epstein paid think tank, Rudd says it acted fast

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says the New York think tank he chairs has acted swiftly to deal with links to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, even though he has known of the connection for more than a year.

On Wednesday, Mr Rudd final­ly answered detailed questions about Epstein and his donations of $US650,000 to the Inter­national Peace Institute, 12 months after first being queried by journalists at Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv.

Last October, Mr Rudd told the journalists he was unaware of any connection between Epstein — who committed suicide in jail in New York in August last year — and the IPI.

This week he said it was at his initiative that the IPI introduced a new gift-acceptance policy last December and committed to donate­ an equivalent sum to programs to support victims of human trafficking and sexual violence.

Mr Rudd told The Australian he would continue to act in ­relation to a $US130,000 private loan of Epstein gave to IPI president Terje Rod-Larsen in 2013.

‘’Any assertion that Mr Rudd has not previously commented on these matters is untrue,’’ Mr Rudd’s office said in a statement.

But journalists Gard Oterholm and Tore Gjerstad told The Aust­ralian it has taken a year for him to meaningfully respond: “We received­ a statement from a spokesperson at Mr Rudd’s office in November 2019, stating that he knew nothing of links between IPI and Epstein and directing questions to IPI. We have sent several emails to his office since, after we published our first story in the middle of November­ about Epstein donations to IPI. We did not hear back until Wednesday.’’

Mr Rudd was a board member of the Bahraini-backed IPI from 2014 and has been its chairman since 2018. Epstein made donations to IPI through his found­ation Gratitude America in 2016 and 2017, including its largest donation of 2017, $US375,000.

Epstein was a sex abuser looking to whitewash his 2008 conviction and 13-month sentence with a slew of donations to various charities and moving among the highest levels of society and influence.

Jeffrey Epstein. Picture: AFP

He knew IPI’s president and Norwegian diplomat Rod-Larsen, and the two had more than 20 documented meetings over the years. There is evidence that other monies flowing in and out of IPI years earlier had Epstein’s fingerprints over them too.

DN reported that in 2014 the IPI had set up an advisory board for the Mongolian government comprising six influential persons, including Mr Rudd, as well as former Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Israeli­ prime minister Ehud Barak, and former Harvard president and US Treasury secretary Larry Summers to advise about regional and global peace and security.

Mr Rudd said he was involved in a call and provided advice to the Mongolian president on the future of his country’s mining industr­y. Both Mr Barak and Mr Summers have long-standing, close financial links to Epstein. All were to be paid $US100,000.

Mr Rudd says he didn’t know at the time that Epstein was part of the Mongolian teleconference.

The year before, in 2013, there was a flashy IPI event attended by Mr Rod-Larsen, Mr Barak, Epstein­ and dignit­aries such as former US secretary of state John Kerry. Mr Rudd was there too but can’t remember meeting Epstein.

By early 2016, Mr Rod-Larsen chased up outstanding payments and discovered Mr Rudd had not been paid the $US100,000 for the Mongolia work.

This was when Mr Rudd was pushing hard for the UN top job.

Mr Rod-Larsen documented that he spoke to Mr Rudd, who told him the IPI could keep the $US100,000 he was owed. Mr Rod­-­Larsen authorised the money to be forwarde­d to Epstein. “For forms (sic) sake we should send it to Jeff, however I am sure we will get it back many fold!’’, he wrote.

Mr Rudd, a friend of Rod-Larsen’s for several years, said this week that when he was told last November of the Epstein financial links to IPI he ‘’was blindsided’’.

IPI said it had not paid any remuneratio­n to Epstein, nor did it pay him the $US100,000 that had been waived by Mr Rudd. Mr Rudd said he had not received any remuneration from the IPI.

IPI, with its New York offices opposite the UN, touts itself as an independent, international, not-for-profit think tank dedicated to managing risk and building resilience to promote peace, security, and sustainable development.