Lisa Summers

INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY

The person identified in screening as "Lisa Summers" is Elisa New, a Harvard emerita professor of American literature and the wife of economist and former Harvard president Larry Summers. Following the release of over 20,000 emails from Jeffrey Epstein's estate by the House Oversight Committee in late 2025, New faced significant professional consequences tied to her financial and logistical relationship with Epstein. New solicited Epstein for funding in 2014 to expand her "Poetry in America" educational project, requesting a $500,000 donation. Epstein ultimately contributed $110,000 in 2016 through an unaffiliated entity. Epstein also helped broker a larger donation to her project from private equity investor Leon Black and assisted her in securing an interview with Woody Allen for the series. Email correspondence between New and Epstein documented these interactions directly. A Harvard report examining Epstein's ties to the university omitted mention of this gift to New, drawing additional criticism. In response to the revelations, a spokesperson for New and Summers confirmed that New "regrets accepting funding from Epstein" and that her nonprofit subsequently made a contribution exceeding the amount received to an organization working against sex trafficking. The institutional fallout was swift and concrete. PBS stopped distributing New's "Poetry in America" series and removed it from its digital platforms in December 2025. Arizona State University then announced it was cutting ties with New entirely, terminating its relationship with her nonprofit Verse Video Education and closing the educational media studio she operated there. These actions represent the most recent and significant determination in her case, occurring around December 18, 2025.