Stanford has joined the list of top-tier educational institutions revealed to have accepted financial contributions from deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as a University spokesperson confirmed Friday that Stanford received a donation four years before the financier’s 2008 conviction.
In the case of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab — for which Epstein secured at least $7.5 million — public outcry was followed by the resignation of the group’s director, who had worked with staff members to conceal ties to the ultra-wealthy financier. On Thursday, Harvard acknowledged having received roughly $8.9 million from Epstein, who died last month, before his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
In 2004, Stanford accepted a $50,000 donation directed to the physics department from C.O.U.Q. Foundation, an organization that has been identified as one of Epstein’s private charities, University spokesperson E.J. Miranda told The Daily. Noting that the contribution came two years before Epstein was arrested, Miranda added that a review of University records found no other contributions from Epstein or his foundations.
Bloomberg News first reported the donation on Friday.
BuzzFeed News reported last month that Epstein’s foundation alleged supporting educational institutions — including Stanford — after his 2008 conviction. The site said that Stanford and some other implicated schools said “they had searched their financial records and could find no evidence that the donations were ever made.”
Miranda wrote that BuzzFeed had been informed of the 2004 donation, which did not appear in the outlet’s article.
Miranda also wrote that funds received had been spent shortly after being received.
It is not immediately clear whether the University would seek to offset the funds received from Epstein. Last month, acknowledging receipt of around $800,000 from Epstein’s foundations, MIT’s president pledged to donate an amount equal to what was received through Epstein’s foundations to charity. Harvard’s president committed the unspent portion of Epstein gifts — totaling $186,000 — to organizations that support human-trafficking and sexual-assault victims.
Contact Charlie Curnin at ccurnin ‘at’ stanford.edu.