Today, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew) was arrested by British police on suspicion of misconduct while in public office. The arrest is, of course, related to Andrew’s longstanding relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That relationship led to Andrew losing his title—an extraordinary step that has now gone even farther. King Charles, Andrew’s brother, said in a statement that “the law must take its course.”
Andrew’s fall from grace in the U.K. is perhaps the most prominent example of Epstein-related fallout. Meanwhile, companies and organizations around the world are deciding how to handle new revelations about prominent figures’ dealings with Epstein, from Kathy Ruemmler’s resignation from Goldman Sachs to the exit of Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem from the Dubai-based logistics group DP World.
My colleague Claire Zillman has a new piece out analyzing exactly how businesses are making these decisions. (It’s part of a new Fortune digital issue, which you can check out here.) Per her reporting, here are a few factors companies are considering when determining whether heads will roll—or not:
- Cost-benefit analysis: Are this person’s contributions to the business worth weathering the outrage? (That seemed to be the calculation Goldman had made about Ruemmler, up through her resignation.)
- Safety in numbers: Some boards may believe that there are so many prominent business figures caught up in Epstein’s web that they can’t all be ousted forever. The sheer vastness of Epstein’s network may be shielding some of his former associates as companies decide to wait it out.
- #MeToo overcorrection: Some decision-makers likely believe boards were too hasty in firing some business leaders during the peak of the #MeToo movement, and want to wait longer before cutting ties.
These may not be the questions survivors of abuse and other advocates for justice would ask—but they are the conversations that are happening in boardrooms right now.
Over the next few days and weeks, we will likely see more of these decisions play out. One is on the L.A. 2028 Olympic committee, which is facing increasing pressure to cut ties with chair Casey Wasserman, whose communications with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed. When Wasserman agreed to sell his talent agency following the start of a talent exodus led by Chappell Roan and Abby Wambach, he said he would focus on his work to bring the Olympics to Los Angeles—and the committee’s executive board backed him. (Like Ruemmler at Goldman, Wasserman expressed his regret for his past association and denied knowledge of wrongdoing, but said he risked becoming a distraction for the business.) But an Olympic committee isn’t a safe haven. Candidates in California’s governor’s race were asked whether Wasserman should step down, and most said yes.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
Bought and sold. The retailer Aritzia, under CEO Jennifer Wong, acquired the Fred Segal brand with plans to revitalize its Los Angeles presence. Etsy, under CEO Kruti Patel Goyal, is selling the Gen Z fashion resale marketplace Depop to eBay for $1.2 billion. Patel Goyal was the CEO of Depop under Etsy before she was promoted; she said selling the platform "allows us to focus exclusively on the compelling opportunity we see in front of us: to grow the Etsy marketplace in ways that matter most to our buyers and sellers."
AI founders to watch. Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini of Ricursive Intelligence raised a $300 million Series A round at a $4 billion valuation. The pair were early Anthropic employees, created the Alpha Chip at Google (an AI tool that could generate solid chip layouts in hours), and "got those weird emails from Zuckerberg making crazy offers to us," which they declined. TechCrunch
JD Vance seemingly weighs in on Eileen Gu. The 22-year-old is now the most decorated female freestyle skier in Olympic history. She competes for China, where her mother is from, though she grew up in the Bay Area. "I certainly think that somebody who grew up in the United States of America, who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that make this country a great place, I would hope that they want to compete with the United States of America," the VP said on Fox News. The Athletic
Uber is planning to tighten its background checks. The NYT has been reporting on offenses committed by drivers who were approved to drive for the app despite past convictions for serious crimes, if those convictions were more than seven years old. And Uber was just found liable for rape by a driver in a case brought by Jaylynn Dean. Now Uber is reportedly planning to change policies to bar some people convicted of violent felonies from driving ever, regardless of when the crimes occurred.
ON MY RADAR
Diamonds are forever, divorce rings are for what comes after WSJ
Judges decry treatment of nursing and pregnant detainees in ICE custody Politico
Lively v. Baldoni tests what crosses the line on a ‘steamy’ movie set NYT
PARTING WORDS
"I’m aggressively in pursuit of the truth."
—I May Destroy You creator Michaela Coel, who is back with two new films and a TV show
