Epstein Wanted The Harvard Connections, Files Show Many Were Happy to Comply

Jeffrey Epstein had a special obsession with Harvard, which he sought to infiltrate more than any other American institution. 

By Mark Arsenault and Debra Kamin

New York Times

Jeffrey Epstein walked out of Palm Beach County jail in July 2009, after serving 13 months for solicitation and prostitution with a minor.

Back at his waterfront mansion, he immediately began working to rebuild a cherished relationship, his connection to Harvard University.

“home and free,” Mr. Epstein wrote by email the day of his release, in a message contained among documents recently made public by the federal government. The recipient was Stephen Kosslyn, a Harvard professor of psychology at the time.

“HI Jeffrey!!!!!” the professor replied. “THIS IS FABULOUS!”

For a decade, Mr. Epstein had used the power of his money and the force of his personality to carve a unique place for himself at Harvard. He became not just a patron of the sciences but also a faux researcher himself. 

While that relationship has been well documented for years, a review of the new materials released by the Justice Department shows for the first time how far Harvard professors went to help him, even after he became a convicted sex offender and Harvard banned his donations. It also highlights gaps in Harvard’s own review of the depth and extent of Mr. Epstein's ties to powerful people on campus.

After Mr. Epstein died in 2019, the university investigated connections to the sex criminal, including those of Dr. Kosslyn, who helped Mr. Epstein get a Harvard research fellowship. That investigation led to sanctions against a math professor, Martin Nowak, and the closure of a program that Dr. Nowak had led and Mr. Epstein had funded.

But the review, completed in 2020, did not explore a number of clues suggesting that Mr. Epstein’s ties to people at Harvard went far deeper.

Some of the evidence was already public, including past news coverage of Mr. Epstein’s friendship with the Harvard economist and former university president Lawrence H. Summers. Other evidence, it is now known from recently released files, may have been in the work or personal email accounts of various Harvard faculty members. Investigators noted but did not follow up on donations from Mr. Epstein to a nonprofit run by Mr. Summers’s wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor emeritus, for example.

A number of Harvard faculty members acknowledged during the investigation that “they visited Epstein at his homes in New York, Florida, New Mexico or the Virgin Islands, visited him in jail or on work-release, or traveled on one of his planes,” according to Harvard’s 2020 investigative report. But the review did not dig into those relationships, noting “these actions did not implicate Harvard rules or policies.” 

Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law School professor, offered some of the rare public criticism of the 2020 review, which mentioned Mr. Summers just once in passing. Harvard should have done more to dig into Mr. Epstein’s ties with one of its most famous and powerful academics, Mr. Lessig said in an interview.

“They wanted to minimize the embarrassment,” he said.

Stephen Kosslyn often discussed science with Mr. Epstein and described him as the “only collaborator” on one of his social science theories, according to a letter of recommendation he wrote for Mr. Epstein.Credit...Stephen Lam/Reuters

Mr. Epstein had a special obsession with Harvard. His exploitation of his attachments to the elite school granted him status, business and personal connections, and a chance to repair his reputation after serving jail time. The emails show how multiple people at Harvard helped him, treating him as if he belonged among academia’s towering intellects.

Some recently discovered emails, such as the ebullient exchange with Dr. Kosslyn on Mr. Epstein’s release day in 2009, have not been previously reported. Mr. Epstein also eagerly sought to reconnect with Mr. Summers not long after leaving jail, the new messages show.

Now six years after its prior investigation, Harvard is engaged in yet another painful examination of Mr. Epstein’s ties to professors at the school, reviewing millions of documents released by the government since November. Already, two professors, Dr. Nowak and Mr. Summers, face consequences over the new revelations. 

“The university will continue to evaluate, based on its ongoing review, what additional actions may be warranted considering information that has come to light in these documents,” said Jason Newton, a Harvard spokesman, in a statement.

The school did not address criticisms of the 2020 report, and it is unclear when the new review might be complete.

A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

Lawrence H. Summers in 2006. New details about the relationship between Mr. Epstein and Mr. Summers are some of the clearest examples of how damaging the new documents have become for Harvard.Credit...Chitose Suzuki/Associated Press

Mr. Epstein entered the Harvard community more than three decades ago, long before any of his crimes became public. Senior leaders at Harvard, smelling a potential donor, began courting him as far back as 1992.

His first donation was in 1998. By the time of his 2006 arrest in Florida, he had made 22 gifts to the school totaling $8.4 million.  

That appears to be more than he directly donated to any other school, according to a New York Times analysis of available records and prior reporting, and about 10 times the amount he directly donated to M.I.T., another institution where he concentrated time and money.

Mr. Epstein never gave enough to get his name on a building, but he got what he wanted: insider status with the science elite.

Though Mr. Epstein never completed his bachelor’s degree, stars of academia and scientific research routinely agreed to speak to him, one on one or in small gatherings. Mr. Epstein combined personal charm with a willingness to listen to the esoteric research passions of leading academics. He showed genuine interest in their ideas — or knew how to fake it. Mr. Epstein seemed to have considered himself a serious thinker, too. In 2009, he searched for a writer to collect his ideas on paper. A contact connected him with John Markoff, then a New York Times tech reporter, whom Mr. Epstein asked for recommendations.

“I would like to find a good writer to put together a summary of my science projects, past and current,,quantum computing, string theory , loop quntum gravity, chinese chi , complexity, neuroscience, bio physics, evolutionary dynamics, cosmology, cognitive neuro, foundations of morals,” Mr. Epstein wrote, with his typical indifference to rules of grammar and punctuation.

Mr. Markoff told The Times recently that he had “no memory of receiving this email.”

“As a full-time New York Times employee, I frequently received similar messages and my practice was to refer them to others,” he said. 

The records show that Mr. Markoff, who retired from the Times in 2016, suggested a former Times freelance writer, Larry Fisher.

Mr. Epstein asked Mr. Fisher for a writing sample. Mr. Fisher told The Times recently that he had not heard of Mr. Epstein before their 2009 exchange. He sent a writing sample “and never heard from him again,” he said.

Some of Mr. Epstein’s efforts were detailed in Harvard’s 2020 report. His early gifts to Harvard included $200,000 to support the research of Dr. Kosslyn, the psychology professor, the report noted. And in 2005, Mr. Epstein leveraged the relationship into an official post at Harvard, as a visiting fellow to study Dr. Kosslyn’s theories.

Dr. Kosslyn had often discussed science with Mr. Epstein and described him as his “only collaborator” on one of his social science theories, according to a letter of recommendation he wrote for Mr. Epstein, detailed in the report. “I wish I could have even a single student who asks such good questions,” Dr. Kosslyn wrote.

Dr. Kosslyn later acknowledged in the Harvard investigation that Mr. Epstein was not qualified to conduct all the research proposed in his application, yet Mr. Epstein got the fellowship. 

Mr. Epstein did little work as a fellow, the Harvard investigation found, but was approved for a second year in 2006.

He cultivated many other relationships at the school.

Mr. Epstein, in a 2014 email released among the new files, listed others at Harvard whom he supported, including Howard Gardner, a professor of cognition and education; Anne Harrington, a professor of the history of science; and Andrew Strominger, a professor of physics.

Ms. Harrington told The Times by email that she was introduced to Mr. Epstein in the late 1990s, and that he provided funding for her work on two projects. She referenced a statement she gave in 2018, which said she would have never accepted the money “had I known then even a hint of what we all have subsequently learned about him.”

Mr. Gardner, in an email to The Times, said he met Mr. Epstein at a dinner party in the mid-1990s. Mr. Epstein then supported some of his research and connected him to “thought leaders.” Mr. Gardner said he told Mr. Epstein after his arrest in 2006 that he could not accept any more donations from him, and they “remained in loose touch for some years thereafter.” When Mr. Epstein was charged with sex trafficking of minors in 2019, “I was horrified and often asked myself why I had not suspected anything like this,” Mr. Gardner said.

Mr. Strominger did not respond to a request for comment.

At least a half-dozen other academics appear on Mr. Epstein’s schedules for meetings with him when he visited campus. 

He maintained contact with Mr. Summers and his wife, Ms. New, the professor emerita of English. He facilitated donations for Dr. Nowak and for George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. The emails suggest that Mr. Epstein and Dr. Church, who did not respond to a request for comment, explored forming a biotech firm together in 2014.

Harvard also provided social cachet. Mr. Epstein’s support of the Hasty Pudding Institute, the Harvard student social club and theatrical group, was a footnote in the 2020 report. The group is independent and not controlled by the university. But it is now clear that the group was a major element of Mr. Epstein’s efforts to stay connected to people on campus after the university barred him by late 2008 from giving to the school, according to the school’s review.

The new files show that Mr. Epstein’s friend and business partner, Andrew Farkas, a Harvard alumnus and chair of the Hasty Pudding Institute, continued to solicit donations for the club from Mr. Epstein. From 2013 to 2019, Mr. Epstein gave at least $375,000 to the institute, facilitated by Mr. Farkas.

In return, he earned a table at Hasty Pudding’s annual gala, which some years he packed with models and photographers. In the years he did not attend, he made sure his generosity was noted. Asked in a 2018 email if he wanted his gift listed as “anonymous” in the program, Mr. Epstein was quick to respond:

“Full name,” he wrote back.

Helicopters and SCUBA Lessons

Image

Martin Nowak in 2007. Dr. Nowak has said that he regrets accepting and fostering Mr. Epstein’s support. In a statement, he wrote that he stayed in touch with Mr. Epstein after his conviction in part because other academics did so, too.Credit...Erik Jacobs for The New York Times

Mr. Epstein offered the scientists something more than funding for research. He fueled egos and provided a heady taste of high life. 

Mr. Epstein first won Dr. Nowak’s attention before the professor moved to Harvard from Princeton in 2003. It started with a phone call to ask about his research. Dr. Nowak described their budding relationship in a long passage in his 2011 book.

After the conversation, next came a donation for his research, and then an invitation to Mr. Epstein’s New York mansion. “I had been invited for dinner and I was flattered to find that I was the only guest,” Dr. Nowak wrote of the encounter.

Later came a plane ticket to San Juan, P.R., and then a helicopter ride to Mr. Epstein’s private island.

“Now I felt like an extra in a James Bond movie,” Dr. Nowak gushed.

“Every day I breakfasted with Jeffrey as the sun rose,” he continued. “We would have endless conversations about science, about my work.”

In 2003, Dr. Nowak wrote in his book, Mr. Epstein negotiated with Mr. Summers — then Harvard’s president — to set up a program on evolutionary dynamics for Dr. Nowak to run at Harvard and gave $6.5 million to support it, his largest gift to Harvard. 

In a statement to the Times, Dr. Nowak said he was urged by Mr. Summers to cultivate Mr. Epstein’s support.

After Mr. Epstein was charged in 2006, Harvard, as an institution, began to back away. But Mr. Epstein did not let up in his pursuit.

He withdrew as a visiting fellow at Harvard’s request over the criminal charges. But Harvard continued accepting his money. From July 2006 to July 2007, Mr. Epstein made four more gifts to the university, totaling $736,000, bringing his total contributions to Harvard to about $9.2 million, according to the school’s review.

The university’s president at the time, Drew Faust, barred Mr. Epstein from giving after that.

Still, Harvard sent “mixed signals” on Mr. Epstein, the school’s review found. The university’s development office in 2013 invited him to a fund-raising campaign kickoff, the school’s investigation found. School officials did not return Mr. Epstein’s money, though Harvard ultimately donated to charity about $200,000 from his gifts that was still unspent in 2020.

Despite the ban, individual professors continued to reach out to him, to meet with him and to do him little favors. Dr. Kosslyn visited Mr. Epstein in jail, according to news reports and visiting logs. 

When Dr. Kosslyn, who left for Stanford University in 2010, published a new book in 2013, he promised in an email to autograph a copy for Mr. Epstein and noted that Mr. Epstein was “already thanked.” He had listed Mr. Epstein, by that time a registered sex offender, in the authors’ notes, among those who read early versions of the manuscript or discussed key ideas.

Dr. Kosslyn did not respond to a request for comment.

Epstein’s Biggest Conquest

Harvard’s review, completed in 2020, did not investigate a number of clues pointing to Mr. Epstein’s reach at the school going much farther.Credit...Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images

New details about the relationship between Mr. Epstein and Mr. Summers are some of the clearest examples of how Mr. Epstein plied powerful people associated with Harvard.

Three weeks after he left jail in 2009, Mr. Epstein directed an associate to write Mr. Summers, who was then a major figure in the Obama administration.

“send larry summers an email that I am home and Free,” Mr. Epstein wrote. “give him the home number and email address.” 

This exchange, not previously reported, shows how durable their relationship had become, despite Mr. Epstein’s prosecution and jail sentence.

Mr. Summers flew on Mr. Epstein’s private plane in 1998, records show. And Mr. Summers and his wife visited Mr. Epstein’s island in 2005 during their honeymoon, according to newly released emails.

Mr. Summers invited Mr. Epstein to his home in Brookline, Mass., in 2018, the emails show, and he leaned on Mr. Epstein as a confidant, updating Mr. Epstein on his stalled pursuit of an affair with a woman whom Mr. Summers described as a mentee. Mr. Epstein referred to himself as “a pretty good wing man” for Mr. Summers.

Representatives for Mr. Summers did not respond to a request for comment. Mr. Summers issued a statement in November expressing regret for the “misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”

A representative for Ms. New, Mr. Summers’s wife, referenced her statement from November, in which she expressed “profound regret over accepting a donation from Jeffrey Epstein.” 

Mr. Epstein also visited Dr. Nowak’s program some 40 times from 2010 to 2018, the Harvard review concluded. Mr. Epstein had a key to get in and a room there, known as “Jeffrey’s office,” which he decorated with his own rug and photos.

Just as valuable was the high-profile platform that the program provided.

After leaving jail, Mr. Epstein wanted to influence what came up in internet searches on his name, and he signed onto a plan to create flattering content about himself.

“nothing for me more important,” he wrote to an associate in 2010.

In 2013, Dr. Nowak’s program added links to two websites for Mr. Epstein’s foundations. The next year, Dr. Nowak agreed to add a page about Mr. Epstein to its website, after Mr. Epstein’s publicist told him “it would be very helpful in terms of Google results if his name were attached to a Harvard.edu url,” according to Harvard’s 2020 report.

Dr. Nowak has said that he regrets accepting and fostering Mr. Epstein’s support. In a statement, he wrote that he stayed in touch with Mr. Epstein after his conviction in part because other academics did so, too.

“I am horrified by my own blindness to the abusive nature of his relationships with women and to what I have come to understand — although I should have earlier — was his mastery of manipulation,” Dr. Nowak said. “I am deeply disappointed in the awe I felt for his impressive wealth and connections.” 

After the 2020 report, Harvard prohibited Dr. Nowak from serving as principal investigator on new grants and advising new students for two years. The university also shut down his evolutionary dynamics program.

But the extent of the relationships between Mr. Epstein and others at Harvard would remain quiet for another several years.

Leaning on a Harvard Friendship a Last Time

In November 2018, The Miami Herald published a series of articles on Mr. Epstein’s crimes and his lenient plea deal in Florida. A federal judge found in February 2019 that prosecutors had illegally withheld information on the deal from Mr. Epstein’s victims.

Two days after the judge’s ruling, Mr. Epstein sent a note for help. He emailed the same message, with the same typos, to about a half-dozen associates, among them Mr. Summers:

“I’d really appreciate your input in how I respond, or, if I respond ,to this new wave of putrid press,” Mr. Epstein wrote. “Its difficult to portray the allegations as tabloid as it now come from a federal judge.” Allegations that he trafficked young girls were “soo nuts,” he wrote, “but now, part of the story.”

“I’d be very surprised if your writing anything or appearing is good,” Mr. Summers responded.

Mr. Epstein replied, “odd that though I almost never involve myself with the public there is such a tirade.” 

A grand jury indicted Mr. Epstein on trafficking charges that July. That August, he was found dead in a jail cell, in what was ruled a suicide.

A month later, Lawrence Bacow, the Harvard president at the time, announced that the school would review Mr. Epstein’s donations to Harvard and his designation as a visiting fellow. Investigators interviewed some 40 people, reviewed 250,000 pages of documents and set up tip lines.

Investigators were aware that “some members of the Harvard community continued their relationships with Epstein even after his conviction,” a school lawyer wrote to Mr. Bacow. But those relationships “in and of themselves did not violate Harvard policies.”

Mr. Lessig, from Harvard Law School, argued the review did not provide the full picture of Mr. Epstein’s connections to the school, instead largely blaming Dr. Nowak as if he were a rogue actor. “There were people who made the decision to protect Larry Summers. Who are they?” he said in an interview.

But Peter Lake, a professor at Stetson University College of Law, said it was not unusual for new threads to crop up after an internal review. 

“At this point any contact with the devil will make you wonder, should I have asked more questions?” he said of Mr. Epstein. “But there’s a difference between not covering everything the first time you look, and obfuscation.”

The new information has led to some new consequences. Mr. Summers has resigned from Harvard. Dr. Nowak has been placed on leave.

But some students say the school is moving too slowly. There have been calls to rename Farkas Hall — named in honor of Mr. Farkas’s father — and a Harvard Kennedy School building named for the billionaire Leslie Wexner, another associate of Mr. Epstein’s.

Representatives for Mr. Farkas and for Mr. Wexner declined to comment.

Rosie Couture, a Harvard senior, was one of two students who faced a disciplinary investigation by the school after sharing a video of Mr. Summers addressing a class about Mr. Epstein. She said the drip of revelations over the past few months had been painful and she wanted the school to do more to hold people associated with Mr. Epstein accountable.

“It’s horrifying and sad especially for young women to be on campus and come to class and be mentored by professors who have ties to Jeffrey Epstein,” she said.