STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly played up his ties to the former head of the Nobel Peace Prize committee in invitations to and chats with elites like Richard Branson, Larry Summers, Bill Gates and Steve Bannon, a top ally of President Donald Trump, the Epstein files show.
Thorbjørn Jagland, who headed the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2015, turns up hundreds of times in the millions of documents about the former U.S. financier and convicted sex offender that were released by the U.S. Justice Department last month.
Since the release, Jagland, 75, has been charged in Norway for “aggravated corruption” in connection with an investigation prompted by information in the files, the economic crime unit of Norwegian police Økokrim said.
Økokrim has said it would investigate whether gifts, travel and loans were received in connection with Jagland’s position. Its teams searched his Oslo residence on Thursday, plus two other properties in Risør, a coastal town to the south, and in Rauland to the west.
His attorneys at Elden law firm in Norway said Jagland denies the charges, and was questioned by the police unit on Thursday.
While there is no evidence in the documents seen so far of any outright lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize, Epstein repeatedly played up hosting Jagland at his properties in New York and Paris in the 2010s.
In September 2018, during Trump’s first term and in an apparent allusion to his interest in the peace prize, Epstein had a varied text-message exchange with Bannon, at one point writing — in one of many messages with untidy grammar: “donalds head would explode if he knew you were now buds with the guy who on monday will decide the nobel peace prize.”
“I told him next year it should be you when we settle china,” he added, without elaborating.
In one email from 2013, mixing in investment tips and praise for PR tips, Epstein told British entrepreneur and magnate Richard Branson that Jagland would be staying with Epstein in September that year, adding: “if you are there, you might find him interesting.”
A year after she left a job as White House counsel to President Barack Obama, in 2015, Kathy Ruemmler got an email from Epstein saying: "head of nobel peace prize coming to visit, want to join?"
In 2012, Epstein wrote former Treasury Secretary and Harvard University president Larry Summers about Jagland, saying “head of the nobel peace prize staying with me, if you have any interest.”
In that exchange, Epstein referred to Jagland — also a former Norwegian prime minister and former head of the Council of Europe, a human rights body — as “not bright” but someone who offered a “unique perspective.”
The financier wrote Bill Gates in 2014, saying that Jagland had been reelected as head of the Council of Europe.
“That is good,” the Microsoft co-founder and formerly the world's richest man, wrote. “I guess his peace prize committee job is also up in the air?”
During Jagland's tenure as chair of the committee, it gave the peace prize to Obama, in 2009, and the European Union in 2012.
Jagland was brought into Epstein’s orbit by Terje Rød Larsen, a Norwegian diplomat who helped broker the Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and Palestinians.
Larsen and his wife are also facing corruption charges in Norway due to their association with Epstein.
Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
The AP is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from CBS, NBC, MS NOW and CNBC. Journalists from each newsroom are working together to examine the files and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.
FILE - Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Thorbjorn Jagland announces the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Friday Oct. 11, 2013. (Heiko Junge/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Open was a week old by the time Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz opened their title defenses.
What once was a two-week quest for a Grand Slam championship now extends into a third week, and U.S. Tennis Association CEO Craig Tiley was asked how he hoped to continue that growth.
“Four weeks,” he said with a smile.
Some players might fear he is serious.
They were already becoming wary of an overcrowded schedule that makes it hard to find many breaks, even before the U.S. Open moved up the beginning of the singles main draw last year to make it a Sunday start.
“I just hope they will not start on Saturday at some point, you know? And then on Friday and on Thursday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” said Marta Kostyuk, the No. 11 seed from Ukraine. “So I hope this is it.”
Kostyuk was one of the winners Sunday, and those players get the benefit of two days off before their next matches. Sabalenka and Alcaraz started Monday, the former opening day, and top-seeded Alexander Zverev and 2023 champion Coco Gauff are scheduled Tuesday on the final day of a first round that until last year was completed over two days.
“So they’re finding ways to extend the tournaments, which I think is tough for the players,” said Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 runner-up in Flushing Meadows, said she would enjoy the extra day off after her victory Sunday to spend time with her sister, who is in New York with her.
But Shapovalov, a 2021 Wimbledon semifinalist, argued that an extra day between matches doesn’t mean more time off.
“Being off is when you’re at home, able to sleep in your bed and not focus on tennis, right?” he said. “We’re still going to have to come back tomorrow, practice the next two days. You’re still in that match environment, tournament environment where I’m locked in and I’m not doing things that I would be doing when I’m off. You know, having a brownie.”
The expansion to a three-week event set in last year, when along with starting singles play on Sunday, the USTA shifted the mixed doubles tournament to a two-day event on the Tuesday and Wednesday preceding it. That was in hopes that top singles players would compete, which most of them wouldn’t when it was contested once their priority event began.
Another day was added to that this year with a qualifying tournament that was held Monday for the final two spots in the 16-team field. With more real matches beyond the singles qualifying tournaments that take place the week before, and admission to the grounds free, there were huge crowds for what the USTA calls “fan week,” and organizers clearly want more.
“This will become the tennis Disneyland,” Tiley said.
He stressed that doesn’t necessarily mean extending the length of the tournament, but by finding more types of events to do during it.
But extending events is exactly what tennis seems to be doing these days.
It's perhaps felt more at the Masters 1000 level, just below Grand Slams. Those have swelled to 10 days, so long that players have trouble keeping track of time. Tommy Paul was noting how well his fellow Americans performed at the recent ones in Montreal and Cincinnati, reaching the final weekend, when he caught himself.
“I say weekend. I think the finals in Montreal was, like, Wednesday or something,” Paul said.
Close. Ben Shelton won the title on a Thursday.
Some players point to the obvious, that longer tournaments mean shorter time to recover before the next event for those who do well. Frances Tiafoe got to the final in Cincinnati, then had to pull out of the mixed doubles, where he was supposed to partner with Fernandez, for more rest.
“To be honest, speaking in the locker rooms, I don’t think anybody’s a fan of how long the seasons in general are right now, fans of these three-day starts, fans of the 10-day Masters,” Shapovalov said. “You know, I think everything’s just gotten too long.”
See AP’s full tennis coverage here
Tennis fans watch a match between Miomir Kecmanovic, of Serbia, and Denis Shapovalov, of Canada, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Denis Shapovalov, of Canada, returns the ball to Miomir Kecmanovic, of Serbia, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Marta Kostyuk, of Ukraine, returns the ball to Storm Hunter, of Australia, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
