CASE FILEREF: NICHOLAS-NEGROPO
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Nicholas Negroponte

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Case Notes

MIT Media Lab co-founder who recommended accepting Epstein donations

INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY

Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of MIT's Media Lab, advised Joi Ito to accept Jeffrey Epstein's donations to the laboratory. Between 2002 and 2017, Epstein made ten donations to MIT totaling $850,000, with $525,000 directed to the Media Lab under Ito's leadership. Negroponte consulted with Ito regarding the relationship with Epstein and, at an all-hands Media Lab meeting in September 2019 following Epstein's death in custody, stated he would still recommend accepting Epstein's money based on what was known at the time. Negroponte later clarified that this position was based on information available before the sex-trafficking charges became public, and that knowledge of those charges would have changed his judgment. Negroponte himself was not a recipient of Epstein's direct funding and has no documented criminal accountability in the Epstein case.

Determination Timeline

CONTEXT ONLYrecorded Feb 27, 2026

Document References (2)

2 documents on file

Media Coverage (6)

Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with MIT

MIT FACULTY GOVERNANCE·Jan 21, 2020

A 2015 website page listed MIT Professor Frank Wilczek as a recipient of Epstein funding, but investigators found no evidence of a donation by Epstein to MIT to…

The Epstein Report: How a Convicted Criminal Could Use MIT to Whitewash His Reputation

PROMARKET·Jan 16, 2020

Between 2002 and 2017, Jeffrey Epstein made ten donations to MIT totaling $850,000. Nine out of the ten donations were made after his 2008 conviction for procur…

Secret donations lead to MIT lab director's resignation

PESQUISA FAPESP·Sep 8, 2019

Entrepreneur and digital activist Joichi Ito resigned as director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab following revelations of financial ties…

The broader lessons of the MIT Media Lab's Epstein scandal

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW·Sep 6, 2019

Joi Ito, the now-former director of MIT's ostentatiously futuristic Media Lab, posted an apology. Ito admitted that he had taken money—for the Media Lab and for…

MIT's Media Lab Faces A Year Overshadowed By Epstein

WBUR·Sep 6, 2019

At an all-hands meeting at the lab on Wednesday, Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte said that — if he could do it all again — he would still encourage Ito…

Controversial Defense of MIT Lab's Epstein Ties

INSIDE HIGHER ED·Sep 6, 2019

Nicholas Negroponte said that he'd encouraged Ito to accept funding for lab, saying, 'If you wind back the clock,' he 'would still say, Take it.' Negroponte sai…

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