Joi Ito, the internet entrepreneur known for investing in tech ventures like Twitter, Flickr and Kickstarter and directing the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has resigned from the board of the MacArthur Foundation.

The resignation comes after reporting in the New Yorker revealed Ito had been concealing donations to MIT from financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Ito and other lab employees took numerous steps to keep Epstein’s name from being associated with the donations he made or solicited,” the New Yorker reported.

Ito served on MacArthur’s Budget & Compensation Committee, which oversees the Chicago-based foundation’s spending, and on its Institutional Policy Committee, which advises management on “public policy matters, legislation, or other matters affecting how the Foundation is perceived by the public, grantees, or the media.”

Ito’s resignation statement read, “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 from the MacArthur board. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.”



Asked whether foundation members or donors have ties to Epstein, MacArthur spokesperson Kristen Mack said, “As an independent private foundation, MacArthur’s endowment is the sole source of the grants we make. MacArthur does not raise money to fund our programmatic work.”

MacArthur tweeted on Saturday it had accepted Ito’s resignation from its board and its nonprofit affiliate, Lever for Change.

A second tweet said, “The recent reports of Ito's behavior in The New Yorker, if true, would not be in keeping with the values of MacArthur. Most importantly, our hearts go out to the girls and women who survived the abuse of Jeffrey Epstein.”