New Delhi:
Jeffrey Epstein was not a Harvard man and was not definitely somebody who finished his undergraduate degree. But for over two decades he engineered a relationship with the university that gave him something more durable than a diploma, which is proximity to intellectual power and the credibility that came with it.
Newly released US Justice Department documents reviewed by The New York Times showed how professors at one of the world’s most prestigious institutions continued to nurture that relationship by visiting him, endorsing him and listing him in acknowledgements even after he was registered as a sex offender.
The day Epstein came out of Palm Beach County jail in July 2009 after serving 13 months for solicitation and prostitution with a minor, he wrote to Stephen Kosslyn, then a Harvard psychology professor, that he was “home and free.” Kosslyn then replied with exclamation marks.
Three weeks later, Epstein told an associate to contact Lawrence Summers, then a senior figure in the Obama administration, with the same news. “Give him the home number and email address,” Epstein wrote.
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