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Newly released emails and travel itineraries appear to show that for years after Jeffrey Epstein served time for procuring underage girls for prostitution, he continued to attend exclusive dinners alongside Silicon Valley’s most famous billionaires.
The emails, part of a trove released by the Department of Justice on Friday, show that as late as 2018, Epstein was invited to or attended dinners alongside the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Google vice-president and later Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.
None of those attenders responded for a request for comment.
Musk posted to X on Saturday that “No one pushed harder than me to have the Epstein files released and I’m glad that has finally happened”, adding: “I had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to go to his island or fly on his ‘Lolita Express’, but was well aware that some email correspondence with him could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name.” In a separate post, Musk downplayed the release of the files, calling it “performative” in the absence of arrests.
Most of the events were staged by the Edge network, a creation of literary agent John Brockman, which offered a platform for public commentary by artists, technologists and intellectuals, along with “sumptuous dinners [and] exclusive conferences … for the rich, the smart, and the powerful”.
Brockman is a literary agent and self-described “impresario and promoter of scientific ideas”, who has represented authors including Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Jared Diamond, as previously reported in the Guardian. He played an early role in shaping the ethos and self-conception of the Silicon Valley elite. Brockman did not respond to requests for comment from the Guardian.
In 2019, tech critic Evgeny Morozov, who was for a time represented by Brockman, called him “a true ‘organic intellectual’ of the digital revolution, shaping trends rather than responding to them”, and in the networks that he created “billionaires, scientists, artists, novelists, journalists, and musicians all blend together to produce enormous value – for each other and, of course, for Brockman”.
The events detailed in the emails took place in fine dining establishments on North America’s west coast, from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Long Beach, California. Although the guests at exclusive Edge dinners were trumpeted after the events, emails show that attenders advised Brockman ahead of time to maintain secrecy and exclusivity: “No room for anyone else. Please cooperate by maintaining radio silence.”
Media reports and non-profit tax filings indicate that through various charitable foundations Epstein contributed $638,000 to Edge between 2001 and 2015, making him by far its largest funder, and in some years its only donor.
Epstein’s connection with and funding of Edge through 2011 has been previously reported on, including his attendance at events, which Edge publicized on its website prior to his imprisonment for sex crimes.
The emails provide the first details of his ongoing connection to Edge and the other members of its network past that year.
‘Interested in backing this year’s event?’
Epstein is listed as a guest or sponsor at several Edge events in the early and mid-2000s, prior to his conviction.
In February 2004, for example, he attended the annual “Billionaires’ Dinner” alongside the likes of Page and Brin, Bezos, Pierre Omidyar, and Vanity Fair journalist and subsequent Trump biographer Michael Wolff.
In 2006, according to the website, and also before Epstein’s conviction, Edge convened a conference for a “group of cosmologists, experimentalists, theorists, and particle physicists” including the late Stephen Hawking on the Caribbean island of St Thomas.
The conference was led by physicist Lawrence Krauss, who in 2018 retired from Arizona State University after a finding that he had violated the school’s sexual harassment policy. The conference included “a trip to the nearby private island retreat of the science philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein, who funded the event”.
Epstein’s 2008 conviction and sentencing for procuring an underage girl for prostitution received extensive contemporaneous local, national and international coverage, as did the details of his offenses against around 40 of his victims.
International scandals quickly emerged around Epstein’s connections with powerful and wealthy individuals including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Bill Clinton and British government ministers.
Epstein was released on 22 July 2009, placed on a year of probation and house arrest until August 2010, and registered as a high-risk sex offender in New York, which meant that his name and photograph were published in an online registry.
Nevertheless, in an email sent on 5 June 2009, while Epstein was still serving his sentence, John Brockman sent him an email asking if he would sponsor an Edge master class to be held in Los Angeles that summer. The message to Epstein asked, “JE, Interested in backing this year’s event??”
Available tax records do not indicate whether Epstein offered specific support for that event. And while he is not listed among the attenders, other emails revealed that he did attend several subsequent Edge events at which his presence was not publicized by the organization.
Billionaires’ dinners
For several years after his release, Epstein was invited to and attended Brockman’s dinners and workshops along with leading lights in tech and the arts, according to the emails. The new emails show that while his Edge connection was no longer publicized, his conviction as a sex offender had little effect on his ability to move among Silicon Valley’s billionaire elite.
On 28 February 2011, Brockman sent a reminder for the annual billionaires’ dinner, to be held on 1 March at L’Opera restaurant in Long Beach, California. (Like all the dinners, it piggy-backed on that year’s Ted conference.)
Besides Epstein, those listed as attenders the day before the dinner included Musk and his then partner Talulah Riley, Bezos, Brin, Gates, Mayer, Williams, former Microsoft CTO and bestselling cookbook author Nathan Myhrvold, and musician Peter Gabriel.
None of those attenders responded to a request for comment. Edge’s website retrospective shows all those listed in attendance at the dinner except for Jeffrey Epstein.
On 28 February 2012, Brockman sent a reminder to Epstein for that year’s annual dinner, to be held that night at the Sky Room private dining room in Long Beach, again timed to coincide with the Ted conference that year.
His email began: “JE – there are 20 chairs and 21 guests in a small room. Please show up alone. JB.”
Besides Epstein, guests listed included the now deceased Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Brin, Williams and Myhrvold.
After the event, other guests were featured and photographed in the website retrospective. Epstein was not.
Itineraries indicate that Epstein attended Ted events in Long Beach in both 2012 and 2013, though it is not clear if he attended the annual dinners at the time of reporting. In 2013, according to an email, Elon Musk invited him to lunch either at SpaceX on a tour or after his Ted Talk.
On 25 February 2014, Brockman sent an emailed invitation to the annual dinner, to be held that 17 March in Vancouver, British Columbia, to recipients including Epstein, Allen, Bezos, Brin, Page, Gates, Mayer, Musk, Myrhrvold and Omidyar.
Epstein’s assistant confirmed his attendance at the dinner in an email to Brockman on 6 March 2014. Epstein’s attendance was not publicized on the website retrospective, but it did show other attenders including Bezos, Brin, Page, Allen (who died in 2018) and Gabriel.
On 18 March, following the dinner, Epstein wrote to Brockman, “your goyim dinner was amazing, . thank you very much for including me. where are the jews. ?” Later, on 15 February 2018, Epstein assistant Lesley Groff sent a copy of an invitation list for the 2014 dinner sent by Brockman ahead of the event to Epstein lawyer Darren Indyke.
In April 2014, he invited Epstein to “our annual EDGE London dinner on Tuesday night”, adding, “This is usually a fun dinner” and “The London Edgies are incredibly bright and have ideas too big for a 3″ smartphone screen. They also know how to enjoy a party.”
On 29 October 2014, Brockman reached out to Epstein directly to remind him of an Edge event comprising “a one day/and dinner event on Monday December 8th in Palo Alto”.
He wrote that he and his wife and business partner, Katinka Matson, were “inviting the Digerati, i.e., the usual guests at our Annual Dinner”. Confirmed guests according to Brockman included Page and his wife, Lucinda Southworth; Musk; Twitter co-founder Williams; and 23 & Me founder Anne Wojcicki.
Epstein’s assistant, whose name is redacted in the email, replied: “I have in Jeffrey’s calendar and will of course remind him of the Dec. 8th event!”
Scandal re-emerges
In January 2015, the scandal around Epstein re-emerged with a vengeance when a victim, later revealed to be Virginia Giuffre, alleged in a court filing that Epstein had repeatedly forced her to have sexual relations with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
On 28 February 2015, Brockman sent Epstein an invitation for that year’s 18 March dinner in Toronto during that year’s Ted conference at a private dining room.
Epstein apparently turned this invitation down, writing on 28 February, “how are you. I wont be there this year. will be in santa fe, with chomsky and group.” (Linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky was a prominent Epstein associate, and the financier owned a sprawling ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico.)
On 24 June, Brockman invited Epstein to a “Superforecasting” masterclass centered on the work of University of Pennsylvania professor Philip Tetlock.
The same day, Epstein replied: “last year, at the last minute the women said no epstein. . am i going to have the same issue again. no problem as you know. i am not sensitvie, but … ”
On 27 May 2015 Lesley Groff reminded Epstein of the RSVP on the 29th.
The same day, Brockman sought to reassure Epstein in a manner suggesting that he was fully aware of the scandal enveloping the financier.
The email begins, “In terms of women, I don’t see a problem with this list,” adding: “but I can check with two phone calls”.
He continued, “None of the guys who have accepted should have a problem. Fyi, Kahneman is ok. I should check with Tetlock.” (The Guardian asked Tetlock if he was aware at that time that Epstein was a potential attender, of his 2008 conviction, if Brockman had contacted him to “check” on Epstein’s attendance, and if he had any other business or philanthropic contacts with the financier. He responded: “I understand the need to ask – and the answers to all four questions below is ‘no.’”)
Brockman’s email went on: “If anything, the only people might [be] the corporate guys I’ve yet to hear from. I could see the founders of the big companies unhappy if they got the Prince Andrew treatment by the press in terms of photos and reportage.”
He concluded, “The only reporters are Markoff and Andrian Kreye (who you met) both friends who should be able to cover the event without mentioning you. Only one person to date has a blog.”
John Markoff, a New York Times tech reporter, does not appear to have written any contemporaneous stories related to the Superforecasting event. Markoff told the Guardian: “I just looked through my mail and I have no correspondence with Brockman in 2015 about a Tetlock Master Class.”
Andrian Kreye wrote an article for German outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung that discussed Tetlock’s work in general terms without mentioning his attendance at the Edge event or Epstein.
Kreye told the Guardian: “I do remember Tetlock‘s masterclass in California, but was not aware that Epstein had been invited. He wasn’t there that weekend. John Brockman didn’t mention any limits or demands concerning the reporting. Everything was on the record.”
The emails do not indicate whether or not Epstein finally attended the event.
On 28 February, Brockman sent Epstein an invitation to that year’s iteration of the annual dinner, once again at the Blue Water Cafe in Vancouver.
On 9 February 2016 Epstein told Groff to RSVP yes to Brockman’s invitation to that year’s annual dinner, and on 15 February Groff forwarded Epstein a detailed Vancouver itinerary that included his attendance at the dinner and the annual Ted conference.
It’s not known who else attended the dinner. By 2016, Brockman appears to have stopped circulating full guest lists of invitees, and ceased publishing retrospectives on the website.
Favors
In the following years, Brockman continued to tap Epstein for networking and favors, according to the emails.
In October 2016, he sent an email to Epstein copying in notable AI “doomer” Eliezer Yudkowsky, writing: “Jeffrey, meet Eliezer! Nice to hear from you today. Eliezer: you were the highlight of the weekend!”
In 2018, the year before Epstein’s death, Brockman sent Epstein an email referencing “your friend in the Middle East” who was “coming to the US tomorrow and is reportedly going to buy 10% of Endeavor for $400m”. That year, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, visited the US as the country’s sovereign wealth fund sought to invest $400m in the US talent and events company.
He told Epstein that “He may be able do a lot more for his people (while spending less) by acquiring Brockman, Inc.”, pitching an “ancillary benefit: The net worth of the 40 guests at my 2014 ‘billionaires dinner’ was equal to combined wealth of 60% of all Americans.”
