MIT's Media Lab director has resigned after it emerged that he had accepted $1.7million in donations directly from Jeffrey Epstein, nearly $1million more than the $800,000 the school publicly apologized for.

Joi Ito stepped down on Saturday after emails he sent the pedophile in 2014 - after he had been convicted and incarcerated for child sex crimes - were published.

In one, he brazenly asked Epstein for $100,000.

Ito resigned in an email to MIT provost, Martin A. Schmidt.

In his resignation, he wrote: '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.'

According to emails obtained by Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker, the college's Media Lab continued to accept money from Epstein despite him being removed from its donor list.

Joi Ito, the director of MIT's Media Lab, resigned on Saturday after it emerged he had taken more donations from Jeffrey Epstein and hidden them in accounts by saying they were from an anonymous donor

In total, he personally gifted the school $1.7million and secured funding from his well-heeled friends which amounted to $7million.

The school apologized last month for taking $800,000 from him over the last 20 years and vowed to donate that amount to a charity for sexual violence victims.

On Wednesday, Ito, admitted that he had in fact taken more money from the financier at a meeting. He is now facing calls to resign.

Farrow uncovered emails between him and Epstein in 2014 where he directly asked Epstein for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

'In one email on September 9, 2014, Ito wrote to him: 'Hi Jeffrey, we still have some money left in the account for (redacted) but re (sic) need to renew his contract/appointment at MIT. It will be a year in November.

'Could you re-up/top-off with another $100K so I can extend his contract for another year? Joi'

Epstein replied: 'Yes'.

Joi had already written to colleagues, five days earlier: 'Make sure this gets accounted for as anonymous.'

On September 14, after Epstein agreed to pay the $100,000, Peter Cohen, the M.I.T. Media Lab’s Director of Development and Strategy, said: 'Jeffrey money, needs to be anonymous. Thanks.'

He also learned that staff referred to Epstein as 'Voldemort' or 'he who should not be named'.

The money was masked, sometimes being credited to an anonymous donor.

At the time, Epstein had already been convicted of and spent time in jail for soliciting sex.

MIT is now investigating the 'facts' surrounding Ito's admissions.

In August, when the school admitted to taking the $800,000 it originally apologized for, MIT President President Rafael Reif said in an open letter: 'To Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, on behalf of the MIT administration, I offer a profound and humble apology.

'With hindsight, we recognize with shame and distress that we allowed MIT to contribute to the elevation of his reputation, which in turn served to distract from his horrifying acts. No apology can undo that.'

'In response, we will commit an amount equal to the funds MIT received from any Epstein foundation to an appropriate charity that benefits his victims or other victims of sexual abuse,' Reif wrote.

Reif said he has asked Provost Marty Schmidt to convene a group to dig into the circumstances of the Epstein donations, examine existing processes and identify any lessons for the future.

Both Lloyd, a mechanical engineering professor at MIT, and Media Lab director Joi Ito posted apologies online for having accepted donations from foundations controlled by Epstein.

Lloyd said he had received a grant from Epstein's foundation to support his research and said he had visited Epstein while he was serving a 13-month prison sentence in Florida.

Epstein was sentenced in Florida after pleading guilty in 2008 to state charges of solicitation of prostitution from a minor.

'I believed, at the time, that I was doing a good deed. Mr. Epstein expressed remorse for his actions and assured me that he would not re-offend,' Lloyd said in his apology, which he addressed to Epstein's victims.

Rafael Reif said the funds totaling $800,000 went to MIT Media Lab, (pictured), or Professor Seth Lloyd

Lloyd said he has 'committed financial resources to aid you and other survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking and will work assiduously to help make your voices heard.'

Ito, in an apology posted on the lab's website on August 15 said he would raise an amount equivalent to the donations the lab received from foundations controlled by Epstein and 'direct those funds to non-profits that focus on supporting survivors of trafficking.'

MIT's review and the latest apologies came after two Media Lab researchers publicly resigned.

One of them, Ethan Zuckerman, said in a post on Medium on Tuesday that he would quit as director of the MIT Center for Civic Media.

He said he reached the decision as he believed the lab's dealings with Epstein compromised its values.

'I am ashamed of my institution today and starting the hard work of figuring out how to leave the Lab while taking care of my students and staff,' Zuckerman wrote in a statement obtained by The Boston Globe.

Ethan Zuckerman, a top member of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, is resigning over the research center's links to Jeffrey Epstein

'I no longer feel I can continue working on issues of social justice under the banner of the Media Lab.'

Zuckerman was one of the chief organizers of Media Lab's annual Disobedience Award, a $250,000 prize which 'recognizes individuals and groups who engage in responsible, ethical disobedience aimed at challenging norms, rules, or laws that sustain society's injustices'.

Last year the award was given to activists behind the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment and sexual assault.

In a note to previous award recipients Zuckerman said he was 'devastated' over his decision.

'I felt obligated as one of the organizers of the prize to express my dismay over Joi's revelations and explain some of the actions I am taking as a result of those revelations,' he wrote.

Zuckerman added that he believes Ito is trying to make amends, and said the pair have been in contact over the last week.

Though Epstein's relationship with the lab predated Ito's appointment, Ito in his post acknowledged that the two visited each other and that he accepted Epstein as a financial backer in his private investments as well.

Zuckerman’s announcement was quickly followed by another resignation Wednesday.

J. Nathan Mathias, a visiting scholar at the Center for Civic Media, announced that he would also be leaving the lab at the end of the year.

He wrote on Medium: 'The MIT Media Lab is a community of creative people who helped me grow into the person I want to be in the world.

'I am in tears as I write this. Like Ethan, I hope that the Media Lab and the Lab community can turn this terrible situation into a chance to become a better place.'