A new batch of more than three crore pages Investigative files about Jeffrey Epstein released by the Justice Department on Jan. 30 reveal how the disgraced financier and convicted child sex offender sought relationships with news outlets — including scientific American– Through his relationships with scientists.
new scientists More than 50 documents released by the DOJ were revealed, and National Geographic Appears in approximately 200 documents. The released Epstein files also include at least 260 referenced documents scientific American. Many of the references to publications buried in the files are merely marketing materials or articles sent to Epstein. But some messages between Epstein and the media indicate a close relationship with the disgraced financier.
Epstein and his ex-girlfriend and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell sit on the board of now defunct science magazine Seed, Which has been mentioned in at least 78 released files. forbes A tally of approximately 1,100 mentions, including a revised individual proposal”I’m writing a feature on AI in Ethiopia,” which likely referred to a lab in the country that Epstein had helped fund.
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At least five former members and one current member scientific AmericanAccording to our analysis of DOJ files, as well as documents and e-mails released by the nonprofit whistleblower website, the scientific board of advisors — Lisa Randall, George Church, Danny Hillis, Martin Novak, Lawrence Krauss and Nathan Wolfe — appear to have ties to Epstein. distributed denial of secrets and received by scientific American. None of the board members included in the files have been charged with crimes related to their association with Epstein.
As of press time, Church, Hillis, Cross and Novak had not responded to requests for comment.
Novak, a mathematician and now former member of Harvard University, wrote, “(I) am on the newly formed advisory board of Scientific American.” scientific Americanboard of directors, in an e-mail to Epstein on September 23, 2009. “It seems like almost everyone there is your friend.”
in 2021 Harvard banned Novak After Epstein scrutinized his program’s funding, accepting new student mentorship or serving as principal investigator on a new grant or contract. These restrictions were lifted in 2023.
Wolfe, a former board member who was also previously CEO of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative and a visiting professor at Stanford University, says he had some professional interactions with Epstein more than a decade ago as part of his broader outreach to potential donors. Analysis of the files shows that Wolff spoke with Epstein several times between 2009 and 2014, after the financier was convicted in June 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a girl under 18.
“I never received any funding from them, and none of those negotiations involved scientific American Either way,” says Wolfe. “I never discussed the magazine or its editorial content with him, and he had no direct or indirect influence on my contributions there.”
currently the only active scientific American The board member mentioned in the files is Randall, a physicist At Harvard. University student newspaper, crimson, informed Most recently, based on documents released by the DOJ, Randall flew on Epstein’s jet and visited his private island in 2014 and also attended a conference on the island of St. Thomas that was financed by Epstein in 2006.
Randall explained, “My conversation did not in any way influence my view on the science or the magazine.” scientific American.
Read more: Why did Jeffrey Epstein evade famous scientists?
Epstein died in a federal prison in 2019 While awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He regularly kept in touch with scientists and funded research at institutions such as Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Santa Fe Institute. DOJ files mention meetings his scientific correspondents held with science-minded outlets Bulletin of Nuclear Scientists till atlantic. These mentions do not necessarily indicate evidence of editorial influence.
In 2014, Epstein was invited to observe editorial meetings for the first time. scientific American After Cross, who was previously a physicist at Arizona State University, contacted him. (Cross subsequently left the board in 2018 separate misconduct report.) Cross gave Epstein’s office an e-mail from the magazine’s then-editor-in-chief, Marriott DiCristina, now a journalism professor at Boston University, who says Epstein was looking for research to invest in.
“Epstein had expressed interest in understanding how scientific American “Innovations were identified for coverage,” says DiCristina. “I reached out to Epstein’s office to offer options, as I had done for others who expressed interest in learning about science editing. scientific American“
DiCristina says it was common for students or other guests to visit the magazine’s offices to learn how journalists write news stories. According to an October 2014 e-mail, he also recommended several writers for a writing project through an intermediary.
“Epstein never came scientific AmericanDiCristina says, “He had no influence on any coverage decided by the editors or by me personally.”
Many of Epstein’s files are mentioned scientific American are just forward article. but one amended 2014 message What was sent to Epstein mentioned “drafting” an article. scientific American “(MIT’s) Seth Lloyd/On Quantum Computing” which will be published “with Jeffrey’s name in the title.” scientific American The piece was never published.
Lloyd says now, “I wonder what this letter is about.” “If Epstein submitted an article scientific American As a co-author with me in 2014, he never told me about it. (MIT hired Lloyd administrative leave Another five-year period imposed in 2020 restrictions That year because he accepted donations and personal financing from Epstein.)
Lloyd says, “Epstein supported some good science: probably the only good thing he did.”
It is unclear whether Epstein sought only influence and stature. farming scientists and sought after by science journalists or more widely shape research results. From December 2025, file releases include troubling discussions between Epstein and scientists, for example, a proposed search for the hypothesized sexually transmitted diseases which will increase female libido And caste science.
in 2014 scientific American reduced its network of bloggers, many of whom were non-journalists who posted on scientific topics under the magazine’s permission, closing the avenue that Epstein had hoped to use. The redacted e-mail from the sender, from a month earlier, claimed that the sender had set up a “guest editor page” for him on the soon-to-be-defunct blog network. The e-mail does not appear to have originated from sscientific american Staff, and no such page was ever created.
Editor’s note (2/5/26): This story is developing and may be updated.
