Until recently, the most controversial members of Chicago’s ultra-wealthy and powerful Pritzker family were billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — a longtime Democratic activist and reform advocate — and his billionaire transgender cousin Jennifer, who funneled millions to the university. , medical schools, gender clinics and nonprofits to support “gender-affirming” medical care.
This week, however, they have been overshadowed by family members involved in two of the biggest news stories of the moment.
The governor’s sister, Penny, 64, was front and center with the resignation of Harvard president Claudine Gay on Tuesday over several instances of plagiarism. Penny has been, since February 2022, a senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation — the governing board that recruits, hires and protects Gay in light of its scandals, including downplaying antisemitism at the school.
Meanwhile, Thomas Pritzker’s cousin was named in a newly opened document related to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Virginia Giuffre claims she was trafficked overseas to have sex with the now 73-year-old man, who is chairman of Hyatt Hotels and CEO of the Pritzker Foundation.
Penny Pritzker, the former US Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration and now a senior fellow at the Harvard Corporation, is facing calls for her to resign in the wake of the Claudine Gay debacle. Paul Morigi The Pritzker family made its fortune, in part, through the Hyatt Hotel empire. Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Pritzker family was ranked as the ninth richest family in the country in 2020.
They owe their fortune to Jay Pritzker (Thomas’ father) who enrolled at the University of Chicago at the age of 14, graduated from law school and created the Hyatt Hotel chain, now a multinational conglomerate, in 1957 at the age of 35.
Penny’s father, Donald, helped develop Hyatt, while her brother Robert (Jennifer’s father) founded the international Marmon Group for autonomous manufacturing.
All three men are grandchildren of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants
Penny Pritzker, a billionaire in her own right who has donated $100 million to Harvard and is an alumna of the school, has come under fire for her staunch support of Gay — despite heavy criticism of her statement to Congress last month addressing antisemitism, and what became a question of plagiarism.
“The Chair of the Board, Penny Pritzker, should resign along with the other board members who led the campaign to keep Claudine Gay, strategized to threaten the media, bypass the process to evaluate plagiarism, and instead contribute to the damage that has been done,” the billionaire and former alumnus Harvard and donor Bill Ackman writes in X this week.
Hyatt Hotels chairman Thomas Pritzker is among those named in a new trove of Jeffrey Epstein documents unsealed on Wednesday. Eugene Gologursky
Penny headed the search committee that selected Gay to succeed Lawrence Bacow when he left the presidency last June.
Despite calls for her resignation from prominent donors and alumni, Harvard said Penny, who served as Commerce Secretary in the Obama administration, will not step down from her position with the Harvard Corporation, which is similar to a board of trustees.
“Penny is an old friend and half the board members are old friends. And even if they were incompetent and had excellent character, the process failed completely,” Jeff Sonnenfeld, associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, told The Post.
“They have become deaf, arrogant, insulting and inelegant if not downright deceptive.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is a longtime Democratic activist and may run for president in 2028. AP
Penny, Sonnenfeld said, should resign from the Harvard Corporation if he and other board members “continue to remain silent.”
“Penny should step up and say what’s wrong,” Sonnenfeld said. “A lot of people on the board should step down if they can’t explain what they’re doing. If this were Enron or another disaster, people would be very critical if the board didn’t speak up.”
Penny, he said, may be a victim of his own tendency to “build consensus. It’s a lot of bad groupthink and that’s hard to beat.”
The Post was unable to reach Penny.
Meanwhile, his cousin was also feeling hot.
Anthony Pritzker runs the private equity firm Pritzker Group and became the subject of a mini-scandal when he and his wife tore down a prominent Bel Air home and built a mansion in its place. She is seen here in 2019 with Gisele Bündchen and Barbra Streisand. Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock
Jeffrey Epstein’s victim Giuffre – who settled with Prince Andrew for an estimated $12 million over alleged sexual assault – claimed she had a sexual encounter with Thomas Pritzker, according to newly unsealed court records.
Giuffre’s allegations against Pritzker first came out in 2019. The Miami Herald reported at the time that Giuffre said he was sent overseas to “have sex with the owner of a large hotel chain.” Pritzker’s name appeared in a footnote but it was not clear at the time that he was a hotel tycoon.
Under oath, Giuffre told defense attorney for Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell that she believed she had been “with Tom once,” referring to a sexual encounter. She did not suggest that she had been instructed by Maxwell to have sex with the hotelier.
Later in the same deposition, Giuffre talked about Maxwell allegedly sending him to have sex with “the owner of a large hotel chain” in France, but he did not name the person.
Penny Pritzker’s home in Washington, DC, is for sale for just under $10 million in 2022. Google Maps Penny’s Chicago mansion is located in the city’s upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood. Google Maps
A spokesman for Pritzker said the married businessman “continues to vehemently deny” the allegations.
Sarah Parshall Perry, an attorney and senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said the Pritzker family has quickly become “radioactive” and has a history of scandals.
Among many incidents, Penny once served on the board of Superior Bank, which the Pritzker family bought with $460 million in tax credits from the federal government.
The bank later collapsed after being one of the first to trade in subprime mortgages.
This $25 million remodeling of a Chicago townhouse is leading to legal trouble for Governor JB Pritzker. Google Maps
Governor JB Pritzker found himself in hot water in 2018 when it was discovered that he and his wife, Mary, had bought a second home next door to their Gold Coast mansion and left it in disrepair, even ripping out five toilets, so it would be classified as “uninhabitable ” — and they’ll get a big property tax abatement.
Anthony Pritzker, JB and Penny’s brother, runs the private equity firm Pritzker Group, and was the subject of a mini-scandal when he and his wife bought and then demolished a Beverly landmark. Hills home, annoying their neighbors when they build a mega-house in its place.
Anthony Pritzker’s Beverly Hills home is the second largest private residence in the city of Los Angeles. Google world
It is the second largest private residence in the city of Los Angeles.
“This is a hard-left political family funded entirely by the Hyatt Hotel empire who say they want to fight what they call right-wing extremism when, in fact, they are extremists,” Perry told The Post.
“To hire Claudine Gay and keep her in her position, Penny … got someone in there who apologizes for this new kind of anti-racism that involves people promoting other individuals who push this narrative of colonization.
Billionaire Jennifer Pritzker, the governor’s cousin, has transitioned and is now a major supporter of transgender causes. Jennifer Pritzker/Facebook
“It’s ironic that the Pritzkers with their family history don’t seem to recognize the hard work and merit that has made our country great and instead encourage individuals who point to colonialism and white supremacy and white nationalism,” Perry added. “They are doing a disservice to scientific integrity as well as integrity in the governor’s office.”
Penny’s old friend, Palm Beach socialite and author Sugar Rautbord, loves her childhood friend, as well as Thomas Pritzker.
“I have a problem with Claudine Gay, who I find scary, but not Penny. I don’t think Penny is going to back down,” Rautbord told The Post.
“I think he believes in a wake-up philosophy that appeals to a lot of people in Chicago [and] which is the only way [Barack] Obama may be from Chicago.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker joins former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center at Jackson Park in 2021 in Chicago. Getty Images
“Penny is an extraordinary woman, happily married, a truly wonderful mother and a philanthropist who is deeply invested emotionally and financially.”
As for Thomas Pritzker — who Rautbord says is “Jay’s oldest and favorite son,” who has three sons — he doesn’t think his name in Epstein’s headlines will bring him down.
“Tom and Penny live a very cocooned life and I don’t think it matters to them what other people think,” Rautbord said. “They come from families where excellence is expected … I don’t think this situation will affect them long-term.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
