Epstein Makes His First Donation to MIT
Jeffrey Epstein makes his first financial contribution to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, beginning a donation relationship that would total approximately ,000 and be funneled through covert channels.
People Involved
In 2001, Jeffrey Epstein made his first financial contribution to MIT. His donations to MITprimarily directed to the MIT Media Lab under director Joi Itowould eventually total approximately ,000 and span the period from 2013 to 2017, after his 2008 conviction.
Internal communications revealed in 2019 by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker showed that Ito had directed Epstein’s donations to be handled in ways that concealed his identity as the donor. Phrases like “anonymous” and “discreet” appeared in internal emails. Ito resigned from all his positions following publication.
MIT conducted an internal review and ultimately chose to retain most of the funds, pledging some to survivor support. The total Epstein-connected funding to MIT, including gifts routed through third parties like Reid Hoffman and Bill Gates, was approximately .5 million.