{"id":8109,"date":"2019-09-09T21:42:59","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T04:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=8109"},"modified":"2019-09-10T03:32:56","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T10:32:56","slug":"post2-61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=8109","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Director of M.I.T.\u2019s Media Lab Resigns After Taking Money From Jeffrey Epstein&#8221;, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">By <span class=\"css-1baulvz\">Marc Tracy<\/span> and <span class=\"css-1baulvz last-byline\">Tiffany Hsu, front page, Sunday, September 8, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Nearly a month after his death, Jeffrey Epstein continues to haunt some of America\u2019s most prestigious institutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">On Saturday, a prominent figure at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stepped down after the disclosure of his efforts to conceal his financial connections to Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell last month while facing federal sex trafficking charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Almost immediately, the M.I.T. official, Joichi Ito, left the boards of three other organizations: the MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and The New York Times Company, where he had been a board member since 2012. He also left a visiting professorship at Harvard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Ito, the tech evangelist and master networker who led the M.I.T. Media Lab \u2014 a program that prides itself on contrarian thinking \u2014 acknowledged last week that he had <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/05\/business\/media\/mit-media-lab-jeffrey-epstein-joichi-ito.html?module=inline\">received $1.7 million from Mr. Epstein<\/a>, including $1.2 million for his own outside investment funds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">\u201cAfter giving the matter a great deal of thought over the past several days and weeks, I think that it is best that I resign as director of the media lab and as a professor and employee of the Institute, effective immediately,\u201d Mr. Ito wrote in an email on Saturday to M.I.T.\u2019s provost, Martin A. Schmidt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-o6xoe7\">\n<div class=\"css-ke163a\" data-testid=\"article-companion-wrapper\">\n<div id=\"newsletter-module\" class=\"css-48vsi0\">\n<div class=\"css-1k9ek97\">\n<div class=\"css-tjpxhb\">\n<div class=\"css-sefkcv\">\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Ito\u2019s resignation came less than a day after <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/news-desk\/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an article in The New Yorker<\/a> described the measures that he and other media lab officials took to conceal its relationship with Mr. Epstein. The internal emails, which a former media lab employee shared with The New York Times, described the handling of donations that Mr. Epstein made and apparently solicited from the rich and powerful over the years, including a $2 million gift from the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">In an email in October 2014 \u2014 six years after Mr. Epstein had pleaded guilty to a sex charge involving a minor in Florida \u2014 Mr. Ito wrote that the gift from Mr. Gates had been \u201cdirected by Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d A development official at the media lab, Peter Cohen, wrote in a subsequent email, \u201cFor gift recording purposes, we will not be mentioning Jeffrey\u2019s name as the impetus for this gift.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Gates said Mr. Epstein had been introduced to Mr. Gates as a person interested in helping increase philanthropy. \u201cAlthough Epstein pursued Bill Gates aggressively, any account of a business partnership or personal relationship between the two is simply not true,\u201d the statement said. \u201cAnd any claim that Epstein directed any programmatic or personal grant making for Bill Gates is completely false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Gates \u2014 one of the world\u2019s richest men and perhaps its most generous philanthropist \u2014 is one of many powerful people to face scrutiny for their connections to Mr. Epstein. President Trump and former President Bill Clinton have been forced to explain their associations with him. So have Britain\u2019s Prince Andrew, high-profile scientists and business executives including Leslie Wexner, the chief executive of L Brands, and Leon Black, the founder of Apollo Global Management, one of the world\u2019s biggest private equity firms. R. Alexander Acosta, who as a federal prosecutor was involved in the plea agreement with Mr. Epstein in 2008, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/07\/12\/us\/politics\/acosta-resigns-trump.html?module=inline\">stepped down as labor secretary<\/a> after that deal was heavily criticized.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Ito\u2019s resignation from M.I.T. was followed in quick succession by announcements from other organizations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">The MacArthur Foundation said reports about his actions, if true, were not in keeping with its values. \u201cMost importantly, our hearts go out to the girls and women who survived the abuse of Jeffrey Epstein,\u201d the foundation said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The Times, and the company\u2019s president, Mark Thompson, wrote an email to staff members that Mr. Ito had stepped down, effective immediately. \u201cOur newsroom will continue its aggressive reporting on Mr. Epstein, investigating both the individuals and the broader systems of power that enabled him for so many years,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Signe Swenson, who served as a development associate and alumni relations coordinator at the M.I.T. Media Lab from 2014 to 2016, shared the internal emails concerning Mr. Epstein with The Times. She said she had told supervisors several times of her \u201cdisgust\u201d at Mr. Epstein\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">\u201cThat was never listened to,\u201d Ms. Swenson, who worked under Mr. Cohen, said in an interview on Saturday. Ms. Swenson shared the correspondence after consulting with the organization Whistleblower Aid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">She said she learned of Mr. Epstein\u2019s connection with the media lab when she interviewed for a position in March 2014, and told Mr. Cohen that M.I.T. listed Mr. Epstein as \u201cdisqualified\u201d as a donor. She said Mr. Cohen replied that Mr. Ito had a relationship with the wealthy financier. In one 2014 email that Ms. Swenson shared, Mr. Ito wrote about a $100,000 donation from Mr. Epstein, asking the development staff members to \u201cmake sure this gets accounted for as anonymous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Ito took over the Media Lab in 2011 following a rapid ascent in the tech world that made him an unorthodox choice to lead an academic program, but not the freewheeling media lab. He was a two-time college dropout who had run a nightclub, then ran a string of internet companies and invested early in Twitter, Kickstarter and Flickr.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">He was also a master networker \u2014 one who visited the Obama White House to discuss artificial intelligence and became friends with the respected Harvard lawyer Lawrence Lessig after criticizing Mr. Lessig\u2019s book when he gave a talk in Japan. Mr. Lessig later put Mr. Ito on the board of Creative Commons, a nonprofit advocate for public intellectual property rights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Ito\u2019s ability to connect with both students and wealthy donors had helped him raise at least $50 million for the Media Lab, a sort of academic skunkworks. It has contributed to the development of technology related to touchscreens and GPS, is home to a program dedicated to democratizing access to outer space and hands out $250,000 awards to those \u201cchallenging the norms, rules or laws that sustain society\u2019s injustices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Ito faced significant criticism from inside the Media Lab. Two scholars said they would leave at the end of the academic year, with one saying he had urged Mr. Ito not to associate with Mr. Epstein. While Mr. Ito did enjoy the support of many within the lab, there were calls for his resignation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have worked literally for years to try to make STEM fields safe and welcoming, attractive fields for women and girls in the face of crushing sexism and gender bias,\u201d said Kim Holleman, an artist who was a visiting scholar and a research affiliate at the media lab from 2013 through 2017. \u201cIt\u2019s humiliating to know that men in these institutions, in 2019, still think so little of women\u2019s dignity and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">At a meeting on Wednesday night with media lab personnel, Mr. Ito said he had \u201cscrewed up\u201d by accepting the money, but that he had done so after a review by the university and consultation with his advisers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">On Saturday, the university\u2019s president, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/president.mit.edu\/speeches-writing\/fact-finding-and-action-media-lab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">L. Rafael Reif, said he had asked<\/a> M.I.T.\u2019s general counsel to hire an outside law firm to conduct \u201can immediate, thorough and independent investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are actively assessing how best to improve our policies, processes and procedures to fully reflect M.I.T.\u2019s values and prevent such mistakes in the future,\u201d he wrote in an email to the university community. \u201cOur internal review process continues, and what we learn from it will inform the path ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">The emails provided by Ms. Swenson outlined the informal role that Mr. Epstein played at the media lab. In the correspondence about the donation from Mr. Gates, Mr. Cohen wrote that Mr. Ito \u201cdid not talk with Bill Gates\u201d and that the program \u201cdid not solicit this money.\u201d In another, from May 2014, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Ito discussed Mr. Epstein helping connect the media lab to Mr. Black, the Apollo Global Management founder, who Mr. Epstein had advised on issues including philanthropy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Cohen wrote that Mr. Black wanted to make a large donation \u201cin honor of a friend, who wishes to remain anonymous,\u201d and later asked Mr. Ito to find out from Mr. Epstein whether Mr. Black himself wanted to remain anonymous. One email indicated that Mr. Black had given the media lab a gift of $4 million by wire transfer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Cohen also asked Mr. Ito whether Mr. Black would like a thank-you note from M.I.T.\u2019s president. Mr. Black\u2019s preference would be something \u201cyou or Jeffrey knows best,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">A spokeswoman for Mr. Black did not comment on Saturday. Mr. Black has <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/08\/01\/business\/jeffrey-epstein-leon-black-apollo.html?module=inline\">sought to distance himself<\/a> from Mr. Epstein, describing his interactions with him as limited to tax strategy, estate planning and philanthropic advice. He has also said Apollo had never done business with Mr. Epstein.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Cohen, now the director of development for computer and data science initiatives at Brown University, did not respond to messages seeking comment on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-o6xoe7\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"story-ad-7-wrapper\" class=\"css-1r07izm\">\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1i2y565\">\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">The departure of Mr. Ito from the media lab came after he spent days <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/08\/16\/business\/media\/ito-mit-epstein-apology.html?module=inline\">trying to make amends<\/a>. At Wednesday\u2019s meeting, which was organized by professors at the program, he reiterated his apology. He described for the first time the amount of money he had received from Mr. Epstein, and said he had twice traveled to Mr. Epstein\u2019s island home in the Caribbean to seek donations. He also told the crowd he had returned one check that Mr. Epstein had sent him earlier this year, after an article in the Miami Herald prompted heavy criticism of Mr. Epstein\u2019s plea agreement in Florida in 2008.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">But near the end, one of Mr. Ito\u2019s staunchest supporters, Nicholas Negroponte, a founder of the media lab, said he had told Mr. Ito to take the money and would do it again. That prompted Mr. Ito to send an email to Mr. Negroponte in the middle of the night, complaining that he was undercutting his ability to make amends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">The situation worsened with the disclosure of the lab\u2019s internal emails. An online petition established in support of Mr. Ito put a disclaimer at the top that it had been set up before news of the emails circulated. A few hours later, Mr. Ito tendered the first of several resignations he offered on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">By Saturday night, the petition site was no longer online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\"><em>Noam Cohen contributed reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/07\/business\/mit-media-lab-jeffrey-epstein-joichi-ito.html\">The New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Marc Tracy and Tiffany Hsu, front page, Sunday, September 8, 2019 Nearly a month after his death, Jeffrey Epstein continues to haunt some of America\u2019s most prestigious institutions. On Saturday, a prominent figure at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stepped down after the disclosure of his efforts to conceal his financial connections to Mr. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8109"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8118,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8109\/revisions\/8118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}