Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard ties were extensive, new report reveals

Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard ties were extensive, new report reveals
By Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff,Updated May 1, 2020

Disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had his own office in a Harvard University department and visited there more than 40 times after he was released from jail in 2010 up until 2018, according to review of the university’s ties to the deceased financier released on Friday.

Epstein’s donations helped fund Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics more than a decade ago, and he was a frequent presence in the department’s offices in Harvard Square. Martin Nowak, a math professor who led the PED research group, gave Epstein key cards to enter the building and offered the space for Epstein to host dinners and meet with Harvard faculty, area academics, and political figures when he was in town, according to the report.

While space was scarce in the PED group, Office 601 was known as “Jeffrey’s Office” and Epstein decorated it with his own rug and photographs, according to the report. For a time, Epstein even had his own Harvard phone line.

Epstein committed suicide last summer in the Manhattan jail cell, where he was being held on charges of sex trafficking of minors.

Nowak was placed on paid administrative leave Friday, although he will be allowed to administer the final exam for his course this month, Harvard officials said.

According to a monthslong investigation by Harvard’s general counsel and an outside law firm, the university received $9.2 million from Epstein between 1998 and 2007. After Epstein’s 2008 sex conviction, Harvard’s then-president Drew Gilpin Faust barred any more donations from the financier. But Faust’s decision wasn’t clear to some faculty and fund-raisers within Harvard who lobbied administrators over the years to take money from Epstein.

Also, despite Harvard’s objection to taking money from Epstein, he continued to find pockets of support at the university, including from Nowak, the math department, and scientist George Church.

In a message to the community, Harvard President Lawrence Bacow, said that there are gaps and ways that Harvard can improve its policies.

“The report issued today describes principled decision-making but also reveals institutional and individual shortcomings that must be addressed—not only for the sake of the University but also in recognition of the courageous individuals who sought to bring Epstein to justice,” Bacow said.

The report expands on what was previously known about Epstein’s extensive ties to the university.

Epstein was interested in science and burnished his reputation by funding academics at some of America’s most prestigious institutions, including MIT and Harvard. In return, he hobnobbed with them on his private Caribbean island and was welcomed, although sometimes quietly, onto campus.

Earlier this year, MIT completed its review of Epstein’s connections to the university and found that Epstein made at least nine visits to its campus, gave the university $850,000, and that top administrators and faculty showed “significant errors in judgement” in their dealings with him.

At MIT, former Media Lab director Joi Ito, who courted Epstein’s donation, resigned after the ties became public last fall. The university’s mechanical engineering professor Seth Lloyd, who also received Epstein funding, was placed on paid administrative leave while his department reviewed disciplinary procedures.

The report cleared MIT President L. Rafael Reif of any wrongdoing and said he had no involvement in approving the gifts. Still, the Epstein episode has left many faculty members unsatisfied with Reif’s leadership.