In his career as a financier, Epstein befriended some of the world's most famous names: People like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, as well as lesser known names like MIT's Marvin Minsky and LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman.
Another such lesser known name: Joichi Ito, the now-former director of MIT's elite Media Lab group.
MIT's acclaimed Media Lab is known for its innovative work in a variety of tech-related fields. Its director, Joichi Ito, directly facilitated donations from Epstein's foundations into MIT through Media Lab.
In addition to his work at MIT, Ito founded and heads an investment company named Neoteny that funds a variety of tech-related startups which also received funding from Epstein.
"Regrettably, over the years, the Lab has received money through some of the foundations that he controlled. I knew about these gifts and these funds were received with my permission. I also allowed him to invest in several of my funds which invest in tech startup companies outside of MIT," Ito wrote in an apology letter on August 15.
Following the New Yorker piece published over the past weekend, Ito resigned from MIT altogether.
"After giving the matter a great deal of thought over the past several days and weeks, I think that it is best that I resign as director of the media lab and as a professor and employee of the Institute, effective immediately," Ito said in the letter sent internally at MIT.