MIT media lab director Joichi Ito resigns over ties to Jeffrey Epstein Joichi Ito, the director of an influential academic center at MIT, resigned Saturday over his ties to convicted pedophile and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. According to a bombshell New Yorker investigation, the MIT media lab received at least $7.5 million from Epstein and Ito would allegedly ask that the donations were counted as anonymous.