These are the key figures in Harvard's Epstein web
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Jeffrey Epstein in a Harvard hoodie. Photo: Rick Friedman/Getty Images
The Harvard University community's ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein span decades, ensnaring faculty, donors and student organizations across one of New England's oldest and most influential institutions.
Why it matters: The Epstein connections show stark oversight failures at one of the world's most prestigious universities.
- The cascade of released Justice Department documents forced Harvard to widen its internal probe beyond faculty to major donors.
State of play: Harvard confirmed this month that it is reviewing donor connections after the DOJ files named prominent benefactors, as well as current and former faculty.
Andrew Farkas, the chair of the Hasty Pudding Institute, exchanged thousands of messages with Epstein, according to DOJ documents.
- Epstein donated at least $375,000 to Hasty Pudding from 2013 until his death, an amount that qualified him as a recurring "Guardian of the Sphinx"-level donor at elite galas.
- Emails show assistants inviting young women to fill Epstein's table.
The big picture: Former Harvard president Lawrence Summers maintained contact with Epstein until the day before Epstein's 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges.
- Emails showed Epstein acted as Summers' self-described "wing man."
- Summers took an indefinite teaching leave in November and said his ties to Epstein are a source of "deep shame."
Follow the money: Harvard's 2020 internal review found Epstein donated $9.1 million between 1998 and 2008.
- A $6.5 million gift in 2003 was the largest and established the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, led by professor Martin Nowak.
Nowak gave Epstein a dedicated office and hosted more than 40 post-conviction visits.
- DOJ files show photos purportedly of both Nowak and genetics professor George Church on Epstein's private island.
- Church reportedly co-founded an investment company with Epstein in 2014, per CNN's review of DOJ files.
Famed law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz was publicly accused by Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre of sexual abuse.
- Dershowitz denies the allegations. Defamation litigation ended in 2022 with a joint dismissal and no payment.
- Giuffre said she "may have made a mistake" by identifying Dershowitz.
Physics professor Lisa Randall was named in the Jan. 30 DOJ drop.
- Randall reportedly flew on Epstein's jet in 2014.
What's next: Hasty Pudding undergraduates have petitioned for Farkas' resignation. Alums and others are pushing to rename the Farkas Hall theater in Harvard Square.
The bottom line: Harvard's own 2020 review documented oversight failures when it came to donors and Epstein.
- The current expanded probe suggests the connections were even deeper.