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New York Times board member apologizes for Jeffrey Epstein ties

A New York Times board member has issued a public apology for his ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“I take full responsibility for my error in judgment. I am deeply sorry to the survivors, to the Media Lab, and to the MIT community for bringing such a person into our network,” Joi Ito said in a statement posted to the Media Lab website and titled “My apology regarding Jeffrey Epstein.”

Ito, who is the director of MIT’s prestigious Media Lab, invited Epstein there and visited several of his homes after meeting “through a trusted business friend” at a 2013 conference, Ito said.

“In all of my interactions with Epstein, I was never involved in, never heard him talk about, and never saw any evidence of the horrific acts that he was accused of,” wrote, who has been a New York Times board member since 2012.





Ito’s connections to Epstein surfaced in early July on the online personal calendar of renowned Harvard genealogist George Church showing Ito and Epstein dined with two others in Cambridge on Nov. 30.

In 2012, the “Epstein Interests” foundation donated $50,000 to MIT, campus newspaper The Tech reported.

Ito admitted having knowledge of the MIT gifts and said Epstein invested in his tech startups.

In the apology letter, posted Thursday, Ito said he would raise money equivalent to Epstein’s Media Lab donations for trafficking survivors. He also pledged to return Epstein’s tech investments.

Church also apologized earlier this month for “poor awareness and judgment” regarding Epstein, he told health news site STAT.





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