Editing MIT Media Lab (section)

=== Connections to Jeffrey Epstein ===
In August 2019,  director [[Joi Ito]] said that the organization had received funding from multimillionaire convicted child sex offender [[Jeffrey Epstein]] through foundations Epstein controlled; that Ito had visited several of Epstein's residences; and that Epstein had invested "in several of my funds which invest in tech startup companies outside of MIT".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/my-apology-regarding-jeffrey-epstein/|title=My apology regarding Jeffrey Epstein|last=Ito|first=Joi|website=MIT Media Lab|access-date=2019-08-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/business/media/ito-mit-epstein-apology.html|title=Director of M.I.T. Media Lab Apologizes for Ties to Jeffrey Epstein|last1=Tracy|first1=Marc|date=2019-08-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-08-21|last2=Hsu|first2=Tiffany|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Ito later admitted to taking $525,000 in funding from Epstein for the lab. In 2019, media lab founder Nicholas Negroponte expressed support for Ito's decision to accept the funding from Epstein.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614264/mit-media-lab-jeffrey-epstein-joi-ito-nicholas-negroponte-funding-sex-abuse/|title=MIT Media Lab founder: Taking Epstein's money was justified|first1=Angela|last1=Chen|first2=Karen|last2=Hao|publisher=MIT Technology Review|date=2019-09-05|access-date=2020-09-24}}</ref> Also in 2019, a federal court deposition was unsealed in which [[Virginia Giuffre]] stated that Epstein's associate directed her to have sex with former media lab professor [[Marvin Minsky]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nypost.com/2019/08/09/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-sex-slave-reveals-the-men-she-claims-she-was-forced-to-sleep-with/|title=Jeffrey Epstein's alleged 'sex slave' reveals the men she claims she was forced to sleep with|access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/9/20798900/marvin-minsky-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-island-court-records-unsealed|title=AI pioneer accused of having sex with trafficking victim on Jeffrey Epstein's island|access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-unsealed-documents-name-powerful-men-in-sex-ring|title=Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Names Powerful Men in Alleged Sex Ring|access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-09/epstein-sent-girl-to-governor-and-senator-for-sex-she-testified|title=Jeffrey Epstein Sent Girl to Governor and Senator for Sex, She Testified|access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref>

In September 2019, it was revealed by emails leaked to [[Ronan Farrow]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' that Ito and Peter Cohen, the MIT Media Lab's director of development and strategy at the time, have worked for years to solicit anonymous donations from Epstein despite Epstein being marked as Disqualified by the university as a donor. Ito has referred to Epstein as "fascinating".<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein|title=Pedophile Fundraising|magazine=The New Yorker|date=7 September 2019|access-date=2019-09-07}}</ref>

Ito resigned due to the scandal shortly after the New Yorker article.<ref name=":0" /> L. Rafael Reif, the president of MIT, announced an "immediate, thorough and independent" investigation to be led by an outside law firm into the "extremely serious" allegations.<ref name=":1" />

On January 10, 2020, the executive committee of the MIT Corporation, the institute's governing board, released the results of [[Goodwin Procter]]'s fact-finding regarding interactions between Jeffrey Epstein and the Institute.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |url=http://factfindingdec2019.mit.edu/|title=MIT and Jeffrey Epstein|website=MIT and Jeffrey Epstein|access-date=2020-01-11}}</ref> The report revealed that Epstein made 10 donations through various entities to MIT totaling $850,000, including nine donations, totaling $750,000, made after his 2008 conviction. In 2002, four years before Epstein's first arrest for a sex offense, Epstein made a $100,000 donation to MIT through a charitable foundation to support the research of Professor [[Marvin Minsky]] (former Toshiba Professor of media arts and sciences, media lab). Epstein's $100,000 donation in May 2013 was intended to be used at Joi Ito's discretion. His donations in November 2013 and in July and September 2014, totaling $300,000, were made to support research by [[Joscha Bach]], a media lab research fellow from Germany whom Epstein introduced to Ito in 2013. [[Joscha Bach|Bach]] declined to be interviewed for Goodwin Procter's fact-finding.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=January 10, 2020|title=Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology|url=http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf|pages=10|via=Report}}</ref> Epstein's other donations to the media lab between 2015 and 2017, totaling $350,000, were made to support Professor [[Seth Lloyd]] (Professor of Mechanical Engineering, $225,000), and Professor [[Neri Oxman]] (associate professor of media arts and sciences, $125,000).

Shortly after signing a petition in support of Ito, attorney and political activist [[Lawrence Lessig]] argued that the undesirable nature of donations to academic institutions from criminals like Epstein, whose fortune does not derive from their crimes, is partially mitigated if the donations are anonymous. He argues that it was "a mistake to take this money, even if anonymous," but that "if you take them, at least don't give the criminal a chance to publicly launder his reputation". "Everyone seems to treat it as if the anonymity and secrecy around Epstein's gift are a measure of some kind of moral failing," Lessig wrote. "I see it as exactly the opposite."<ref>{{cite web |last=Lessig |first=Lawrence |title=On Joi and MIT |url=https://medium.com/@lessig/on-joi-and-mit-3cb422fe5ae7 |access-date=2019-09-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Piper |first=Kelsey |date=11 September 2019 |title=Why MIT Media Lab thought it was doing right by secretly accepting Jeffrey Epstein's money |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/11/20860717/mit-media-lab-joi-ito-epstein |access-date=2019-09-12}}</ref>

''[[The Boston Globe]]'' reported it had seen emails indicating [[Bill Gates]] had donated $2.2 million to the media lab through Epstein.<ref>[https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/10/nation/melinda-gates-began-meeting-with-divorce-lawyers-2019-when-reports-bills-ties-jeffrey-epstein-surfaced-according-report/ Melinda Gates began meeting with divorce lawyers in 2019, when reports of Bill’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein surfaced, according to report]</ref>