Billionaire Thomas Pritzker resigned as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels after DOJ-released documents exposed his continued contact with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Pritzker admitted terrible judgment and will not seek re-election to the board; CEO Mark Hoplamazian succeeds him as chairman.
Pritzker, 75, announced his resignation on February 16, 2026, effective immediately, after a new release of Epstein-related files by the US Justice Department revealed his recurring contact with the convicted sex offender and with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. In a statement, Pritzker wrote: "Good stewardship also means protecting Hyatt, particularly in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell which I deeply regret. I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner."
The released files included numerous emails between Pritzker and Epstein detailing dinner meetups and invitations, with interactions continuing even after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. In one 2018 exchange, Epstein enlisted Pritzker's help with reservations for a woman traveling through Asia who was reportedly a girlfriend of his; when Pritzker asked what she planned to do there, she wrote she was going to "try to find a new girlfriend for Jeffrey." Pritzker replied, "May the Force be with you," with a smiley face.
"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," Pritzker said. He has been a fixture at Hyatt for decades: executive chairman since 2004, CEO in the early 2000s, and an heir to the fortune built by his father Jay, who acquired the Hyatt House near Los Angeles International Airport in the late 1950s. Pritzker, the cousin of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, said he would not seek re-election to the board.
The Hyatt board named Mark Hoplamazian — Hyatt's president and CEO since 2006 — to succeed Pritzker as chairman, effective immediately. "Tom's decision reflects his stewardship and strong commitment to Hyatt over his many decades of service," Hoplamazian said. The company's own press release made no mention of Epstein, with governance committee chair Richard Tuttle praising Pritzker's leadership and the board's succession planning.
Pritzker's departure was part of a wider reckoning after the DOJ file releases. Economist Larry Summers was banned for life from the American Economic Association over his Epstein ties, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the head of port operator DP World, was replaced over his friendship with Epstein. Hyatt, which operates more than 1,500 hotels and resorts in over 83 countries, now faces the task of moving past its founding family's scandal without losing the stewardship story that has defined its governance for two decades.