One way Epstein wielded his influence was through philanthropy. Institutions including MIT and Harvard have both publicly confirmed that Epstein donated large sums of money to various programs at the universities.
MIT was not as forthcoming publicly, The New Yorker reported, as per emails obtained and published in an article linking Epstein to Gates.
The lab's director, Ito, along with its former Director of Development and Strategy, Peter Cohen, and other Media Lab staffers sustained efforts for a number of years to receive anonymous donations from Epstein, and gave him the ability to influence how they were spent, The New Yorker reported.
Epstein also helped the MIT Media Lab receive funding through donations from his other powerful, wealthy associates, including Gates and the investor Leon Black.
The aforementioned email sent by Ito in October 2014 said: "This is a $2M gift from Bill Gates directed by Jeffrey Epstein." Cohen replied with "For gift recording purposes, we will not be mentioning Jeffrey's name as the impetus for this gift."
The denial from the Gates Foundation spokesperson contradicts the contents of the emails, but The New Yorker also published an email from Epstein to Ito where the financier wrote "GAtes [sic] would like a write up on our one science program for tues next week."
Ito asked Epstein to specify what type of write up, and Epstein replied "more specofic [sic] so that he can fund." The lab ultimately secured $7.5 million from Gates and Black, the founder of one of the largest private-equity firms, seemingly using Epstein as the primary go-between contact.
MIT Media Lab didn't immediately responded to Business Insider's request for comment.