Harvard Reports on Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein
5.1.20
PRESIDENT LAWRENCE S. BACOW
reported to the community this afternoon that the gifts to Harvard from Jeffrey Epstein were in line with those he disclosed last September: $9.1 million between 1998 and 2008,
with no gifts received following Epstein’s conviction in 2008.
Epstein, who apparently took his own life while imprisoned last August,was facing numerous further charges of sexual assault.
But as a result of further investigation,the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has placed a professor, whose research Epstein underwrote, on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation of the professor’s role in granting Epstein access to an office, circumventing Harvard security, and posting materials about Epstein (at Epstein’s request) on the research program website
(see details below).
In a letter to Bacow on the Office of General Counsel’s investigation of the gifts,
Diane Lopez,vice president and general counsel,
wrote that Harvard did not accept gifts from Epstein after his conviction
“based on deliberate decisions not to accept gifts from him made by senior Harvard officials who recognized the aberrant and unacceptable nature of his conduct.”
The investigation did address concerns about
his efforts to serve as an intermediary for donations,
his appointment as a Visiting Fellow,
his visits to a Harvard academic office he had funded.
(Full texts of both letters, and a link to the report, appear below.)
Following his conviction,Epstein “did continue efforts to interest other donors in supporting research at Harvard wiith respect to one of these donors, we established that Epstein or his associates helped to facilitate the gift transactions, as more fully described in the report.”
Although her investigation did not reveal information that would contradict donors’ claim that their decisions to make gifts were arrived at independently,
Nevertheless,development officers at Harvard knew about Epstein’s continued involvement in encouraging others to donate to Harvard and did not take steps to discourage these efforts despite knowing that gifts would not be welcome from him.
No one violated any Harvard policy in this regard, as there is none; a matter we recommend be rectified.
The underlying report details President Drew Faust’s and Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean Michael D. Smith’s independent decisions not to permit gifts from Epstein in 2008 and 2013.
Faculty members had sought permission to accept gifts in support of a program he had previously supported, and the math department; and he was apparently extended an invitation to join the launch for The Harvard Campaign
(but did not attend).
It also details Epstein’s involvement in securing significant support from Leon and Debra Black (who are significant donors to diverse Harvard schools).
Harvard Magazine
https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/05/harvard-report-jeffrey-epstein-gifts
Ghislaine Maxwell and others linked to Jeffrey Epstein under FBI investigation | Jeffrey Epstein | The Guardian
Jeffrey Epstein death in jail under FBI investigation
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/11/19/jeffrey-epstein-death-in-jail-under-fbi-investigation.html
Read the full report on Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Harvard – The Boston Globe