Hyatt Executive Chairman Tom Pritzker Retires, Cites Epstein Connection
Tom Pritzker resigned as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corp. on Monday, effective immediately, over his ties to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The 75-year-old former Hyatt CEO and member of the brand’s founding family said in a statement the decision followed discussions with board members and reflected his responsibility to provide good stewardship to the company.
“Good stewardship also means protecting Hyatt, particularly in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell which I deeply regret,” Pritzker said in a statement. “I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner. I condemn the actions and the harm caused by Epstein and Maxwell and I feel deep sorrow for the pain they inflicted on their victims.”
The statement included a letter to the board of directors dated Feb. 16 that doesn’t directly name Epstein or reference the scandal.
Instead, Pritzker, whose net worth was estimated at $6B in 2024 before he was pushed off the Bloomberg Billionaire Index by wealthier people, wrote that he was opting not to seek reelection as executive chairman of the board because of his age and concern for the legacy of himself and his wife, Margot Pritzker.
“When I look at my care for Hyatt, my respect for good governance and the focus that Margot and I have on our legacy, they all lead me to conclude that what is right for Hyatt and for me is that I retire,” he wrote in the letter, released by the Pritzker Organization, the billionaire’s family office.
Pritzker was appointed chairman of Hyatt in 2004 and had served as CEO in the early 2000s. He was replaced on the board by Mark Hoplamazian, Hyatt’s president and CEO, effective immediately.
Pritzker’s connection to Epstein first came to light in a 2022 Business Insider report that didn’t include details about their relationship. But in January 2024, unsealed court documents revealed that Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein accuser who was found dead by suicide in August, said she had sex with Pritzker at the instruction of Maxwell.
Emails released in November further demonstrated the friendly relationship between Pritzker and Epstein, including a message from Pritzker in August 2016 that said, “Looking for a time to catch up in NY.” The email exchanges stretch from 2010 to 2019, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Epstein was first arrested in 2006.
Pritzker is also the cousin of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and executive chairman of the Pritzker Organization. It’s unclear if he’ll keep his role at the top of the family office. A spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday.
Pritzker’s resignation comes as the release of millions of files related to federal investigations into Epstein rebound around the globe.
Ahmed bin Sulayem quit his job as the head of Dubai-based global ports operator DP World after his links to Epstein were revealed, Norway’s ambassador to Jordan and Iraq resigned over her ties to him, and several officials in Britain have resigned or are being pressured to exit political posts.
The latest tranche of documents released by the federal government revealed that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick met with Epstein on his island in 2012, despite prior statements from Lutnick denying he and the financier had any kind of relationship.
"I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation," Lutnick said on Capitol Hill during a hearing after the emails were released, in a reversal of his previous position.
