How Joi Ito was advised to keep Jeffrey Epstein's MIT Media lab ties a secret

Bill Ackman attends The Pershing Square Foundation 10th Anniversary Celebration in 2017. Photo: Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Former MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito was advised by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on how to keep Jeffrey Epstein's financial ties to the lab a secret, according to recent emails obtained by the Boston Globe.

The big picture: Epstein made at least $7.5 million in donations anonymously or circuitously to the MIT Media Lab. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman — and MIT professor Neri Oxman, in a statement obtained by the Globe — said they only came into contact with Epstein through Ito for Media Lab fundraising. Ito resigned from the lab last week.

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"I don't think it is necessary for you to say it was at your request, which as I understand in this case it was, but it is very important that you don't mention Neri's name or otherwise get her involved ... I don't want to see her forced into a position where to protect her name she Is required to be transparent about everything that took place at MIT with Epstein."

Bill Ackman, in an email to Joi Ito and Neri Oxman on Aug. 20, 2019

Catch up quick: "Oxman’s lab, Mediated Matter, received $125,000 tied to Epstein over the years," the Globe reports. Ackman — Oxman's husband — asked Ito to copy him on all Epstein-related communications going forward, as of Aug. 20, while coaching Ito and Oxman to respond to media questions regarding Epstein.

Read the emails obtained by the Boston Globe:

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