Jeffrey Epstein Kept Harvard Office After 2008 Sex Crimes Conviction
Richard Moorhead
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Billionaire sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein maintained wide-ranging access to the campus of Harvard University well after his 2008 conviction for procuring prostitution of a minor, according to new reports following an investigation by the university into the matter.
Epstein had retained his campus office, keycard and phone number following the conviction. The disgraced financier had donated millions of dollars to Harvard starting in 1998, with the university accounting for $9.1 million. University President Lawrence Bacow claims that Harvard refused to accept any donations from Epstein after his 2008 conviction, but admits the school didn’t take action to revoke his campus access.
Epstein is described as having visited the school’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics more than forty times from 2010 to 2018.
Martin Nowak, the director of the program- which Epstein had helped found in 2003 with a $6 million donation- allowed Epstein to keep his office and keycard for the program’s building, despite knowing that the financier had been convicted of sex crimes. Nowak has since been placed on paid administrative leave by Harvard.
Harvard had even admitted Epstein as a visiting fellow in the school’s psychology department in 2005, despite the college dropout having none of the qualifications that academic staff would typically require. Epstein withdrew as a psychology fellow in 2006 following his initial arrest for sexual crimes involving children.
Bacow is pledging that Harvard will implement new procedures to vet and regulate the academic access of donors with questionable personal track records.
“The report issued today describes principled decision-making but also reveals institutional and individual shortcomings that must be addressed — not only for the sake of the University but also in recognition of the courageous individuals who sought to bring Epstein to justice.“
America’s elite universities are facing increased skepticism for the unrestricted access they’ve given to questionable Chinese donors and scientific researchers.
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