Joi Ito**, director of MIT's Media Lab, wrote a funding proposal for Jeffrey Epstein that included a personal "slush fund for Joi" as one of the money's potential uses — according to seized emails now in the DOJ archive.
The July 2018 email chain, logged as document EFTA01006397 in the federal archive, shows Ito actively soliciting Epstein's help to secure a $25 million donation, then drafting a pitch document to justify the gift. The email preceded Ito's 2019 resignation by just 13 months.
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'A Slush Fund for Joi'
On July 22, 2018, Ito emailed Epstein laying out a menu of options for how the $25 million could be used. The list included a non-profit deployment lab, targeted research initiatives — and a fourth option he labeled plainly: "B - A slush fund for Joi."
Epstein responded three days later asking for a formal proposal. Ito obliged, sending a draft that described a new program he called "One Science" — a Meta-discipline pulling faculty from multiple institutions to break traditional academic boundaries.
In that same July 2018 exchange, Ito asked Epstein directly whether the $25 million donor was "MBS" — Mohammad bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince. Epstein replied: "no, it is a friend. but his foundation needs a proposal."
Five Years of Access to MIT's Halls
The funding pitch was not the beginning of the relationship. The archive contains 3,935 documents connecting Ito to Epstein across five years of coordinated access to MIT's campus.
As early as June 2013, Epstein's assistant Lesley Groff was coordinating Joi Ito's attendance at island visits. In an email logged as EFTA01971858, Epstein wrote directly to Ito: "does the july 4th weekend work... my heli will pick you up. you can fly with me back to ny on that sunday."
Ito replied asking about diving logistics and where to put his personal dive guide.
Epstein Meetings Moved Inside the Lab
By March 2016, the meetings had moved from Epstein's properties into MIT's own facilities. A coordination email logged as EFTA02040239 shows Epstein's staff writing to Ito's assistant at the Media Lab email address — heatherd@media.mit.edu — to arrange a visit: "Jeffrey is asking if it might be easier to meet at the Media Lab vs. Martin's office."
Ito's assistant confirmed the visit and offered to have Ito join a meeting already scheduled with a researcher named Jeremy. The document shows Martin Nowak — a Harvard evolutionary biologist with his own documented ties to Epstein — as the alternate meeting point.
In June 2015, Lesley Groff coordinated another Ito meeting at Nowak's Institute at 1 Brattle Square, Suite 6. The email (EFTA02078618) shows Ito inviting additional attendees including Kevin Esvelt, a CRISPR researcher, to the Epstein lunch.
Dinner With Summers and Hoffman
The relationship extended beyond MIT. On April 29, 2016, Ito hosted a dinner at his own home that included Reid Hoffman and Larry Summers as guests alongside Epstein's network. The calendar alert, logged as EFTA02053109, reads: "5–6:30pm Drinks & Apps at Joi Ito's house. 6:30pm Dinner at Joi's."
Larry Summers — former Treasury Secretary and Harvard president — appears across 2,590 documents in the same federal archive.
In August 2016, Ito coordinated a separate Saturday meeting with Danny Hillis and Nicholas Negroponte — two of the Media Lab's founding figures — timed around an Epstein visit to a Cambridge office. The email (EFTA02045891) notes Ito had only a 30-minute window before a noon appointment.
The Resignation That Followed
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. Within weeks, reporting revealed that MIT had accepted millions in Epstein donations — some routed specifically to conceal Epstein's name. Joi Ito resigned as Media Lab director in September 2019.
The 2018 proposal document shows Ito was not a passive recipient. He was actively designing the structure — asking whether the money should route through MIT directly, through a non-profit, or through a donor-advised fund so he could "direct some of it to non-MIT stuff."
The archive's 3,935 documents tracing the relationship span July 2013 through July 2018 — the full arc from island invitation to funding pitch.
All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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This analysis references publicly released documents from the Epstein case archive. All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless convicted in a court of law. Language such as “documents indicate” reflects what appears in source materials, not conclusions of guilt. Readers are encouraged to review the cited source documents directly.