The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow says paperwork indicates the accused sex trafficker “directed” a $2 million donation from Bill Gates to the lab.
Scandal has been swirling around the MIT Media Lab because of its ties to Jeffrey Epstein, with the prestigious university apologizing for taking $800,000 from the accused sex trafficker and several researchers quitting in protest.
But the outcry is about to get much louder after a bombshell report by The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow that reveals the financial relationship was more deeply entangled than previously known—so much so that Epstein’s donations were kept anonymous and the lab ignored pushback from its staffers to keep the money rolling in.
The report, which cites leaked emails and other records, appears to contradict lab director Joichi Ito’s recent claim that his decision to accept Epstein’s donations was simply an “error in judgement.”
Among the biggest disclosures:
EPSTEIN ALLEGEDLY ‘DIRECTED’ DONATION FROM BILL GATES
Epstein acted as an intermediary to woo other wealthy donors, including Bill Gates, who donated $2 million in 2014, and investor Leon Black, who gave $5.5 million in 2015, according to the report. Ito is said to have let Epstein—who had already spent a year in jail after a sex-trafficking investigation—handle the discussions with donors. “Gates would like a write up on our one science program for tues next week,” Epstein allegedly wrote to Ito at one point. The donation from Gates was later described as having been “directed” by Epstein, according to the report.