The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most respected universities in the world, has recently been outed for covering up its long financial relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to a report by the New Yorker, MIT secretly funneled in donations from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for over 10 years. The report claims that MIT staff would remove Epstein’s name from donor lists. During meetings with the directors of the MIT Media Lab, which received donations from the disgraced billionaire, Epstein’s presence would be recorded only by his initials.
The documents and sources suggest that there was more to the story. They show that the lab was aware of Epstein’s history—in 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution—and of his disqualified status as a donor. They also show that Ito and other lab employees took numerous steps to keep Epstein’s name from being associated with the donations he made or solicited. On Ito’s calendar, which typically listed the full names of participants in meetings, Epstein was identified only by his initials. Epstein’s direct contributions to the lab were recorded as anonymous. In September, 2014, Ito wrote to Epstein soliciting a cash infusion to fund a certain researcher, asking, “Could you re-up/top-off with another $100K so we can extend his contract another year?” Epstein replied, “yes.” Forwarding the response to a member of his staff, Ito wrote, “Make sure this gets accounted for as anonymous.” Peter Cohen, the M.I.T. Media Lab’s Director of Development and Strategy at the time, reiterated, “Jeffrey money, needs to be anonymous. Thanks.”
Internal MIT records credit Epstein with securing $7.5 million in funding for the media lab, including a two million dollar donation from Bill Gates. In internal conversations, MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito referred to Epstein as “Voldemort.”
According to the records obtained by The New Yorker and accounts from current and former faculty and staff of the media lab, Epstein was credited with securing at least $7.5 million in donations for the lab, including two million dollars from Gates and $5.5 million from Black, gifts the e-mails describe as “directed” by Epstein or made at his behest. The effort to conceal the lab’s contact with Epstein was so widely known that some staff in the office of the lab’s director, Joi Ito, referred to Epstein as Voldemort or “he who must not be named.”
A report by Business Insider this week provided details on one of the projects that Epstein backed. Sources claim that a portion of Epstein’s fund were earmarked for an ambitious project that aimed to grow food without soil. The project, which has been called the “personal food computer” by some, isn’t functional.
The “personal food computer,” a device that MIT Media Lab senior researcher Caleb Harper presented as helping thousands of people across the globe grow custom, local food, simply doesn’t work, according to two employees and multiple internal documents that Business Insider viewed. One person asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.
Breitbart News reported last week that Ito resigned from his position. Ito’s resignation came in the aftermath of Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker report. One MIT official even defended the decision to accept money from Epstein, arguing that Epstein had “repented” for his crime of soliciting underage prostitution.
“We all knew he went to jail for soliciting underage prostitution,” the official said. “But we thought he served his term and repented. I even discussed this new leaf with him.”
Epstein reportedly committed suicide in a Manhattan prison on August 10. The event sparked a national conversation on the suspicious circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. For example, authorities announced at the end of August that camera footage from Epstein’s cell is unavailable.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.
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