The Widener Library on the Harvard Campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Photographer / Cassandra Klos, Bloomberg via Getty Images
Long after Jeffrey Epstein was known as a convicted sex offender, he was also a top contributor to an elite cluster of groups founded by Harvard University students.
For years, he was able to fill a table with “girls” at an annual gala that featured celebrities, billionaires and cultural luminaries.
Annual donations of at least US$50,000 ($82,900) to the Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 - a non-profit umbrella for a social club, theatre troupe and a cappella singers - qualified him as a “Guardian of the Sphinx” at Order of the Golden Sphinx galas in New York from at least 2013 to 2019.
His final invitation came just months before he was charged with federal sex-trafficking crimes and then hanged himself in a Manhattan jail.
Documents released by the United States Justice Department, including emails sent by an assistant, indicate Epstein would often fill his table with female acquaintances.
“Hello girls! Jeffrey would like you all to attend the Hasty Pudding Gala on April 13 at the Plaza Hotel,” Epstein’s assistant wrote in 2015 to recipients whose identities were redacted.
“Let me know if you can go and who else we can invite to make the 10 (with JE approval of course ;)”
To one invitee, the assistant touted a chance to “wear a fancy dress and shoes!”
The vast trove of emails in the DOJ files have revealed how Epstein used institutions, including elite universities as part of his network.
The emails also are an indication that Harvard’s connection to Epstein’s web of influence may run deeper than previously known, given newly released correspondence with professors, donors and societies.
The social club is “a cornerstone of the Harvard experience”, according to the organisation’s website. It’s the oldest club of its kind in the US and counts five former US presidents among its membership.
A spokesperson for Harvard didn’t respond to requests for comment about Epstein’s involvement with the Hasty Pudding Institute.
From 2013 until his death, Epstein donated at least US$375,000 to the organisation, the Justice Department documents show. That figure was reported earlier by the Harvard Crimson.
Emails in the documents indicate that in 2018, Epstein asked Andrew Farkas, a real estate titan and Harvard booster who chairs the Hasty Pudding Institute, if he wanted his table of 10 at the gala. Farkas replied “yes pls”. Farkas and Epstein exchanged nearly 2000 messages that were released as part of the DOJ trove and their relationship spanned more than a decade.
The Hasty Pudding Institute said in an emailed response to questions that it is “perpetually focused on doing right”. The organisation said that it has made donations to a charity that supports trafficking victims in an amount that “far” exceeds contributions that Epstein made to the club.
A spokesperson for the undergraduates of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, meanwhile, said the current staff, crew and cast, had nothing to do with Epstein.
“Any prior donation by him to our organization is reprehensible, should never have happened, and is wholly inconsistent with the values and culture of the Theatricals.”
“I deeply regret ever having met this individual, but at no time have I conducted myself inappropriately,” Farkas said in an emailed statement. “There has been no evidence of any wrongdoing or impropriety.”
Harvard has known for years that it has a Jeffrey Epstein problem and has launched multiple probes into its ties to the sex offender.
Epstein chatted and collaborated with major Harvard benefactors, corresponded with university professors and offered advice on admissions to associates and their children, the DOJ files show. In emails, Epstein and his assistants frequently mentioned plans to be on campus for meetings.
While Epstein’s broad involvement with Harvard has been known, the extent of his ties with Hasty Pudding hasn’t been as well documented.
The organisation - like many others Epstein donated to - is a symbol of status and tradition, and Epstein used his support to help launder his reputation. In a press release from March 2014, he framed his donations as an extension of his Harvard giving.
Epstein was asked by his assistant in March of 2019 if he wanted to invite guests to the gala that year or donate the table for others to use, according to the DOJ files. He appears to have begun co-ordinating to fill his table but ultimately gave it away.
In July 2019, Epstein was arrested, with prosecutors in New York alleging he had abused girls as young as 14. Epstein was found dead a month later.
Other invitations to “girls” to sit at Epstein’s table at the Hasty Pudding gala include a last-minute request in 2015 after the event had already started to add “another girl” to fill in for someone who wasn’t able to attend.
“Thank you for including me last night,” wrote one attendee after the 2014 gala. “It was fun to catch up with all the girls.”
That same year, Epstein’s assistant asked the financier if one of the invitees should be flown to New York for the event. “No have her come straight to isalnd,” he replied.
In 2018, an event organiser asked Epstein if his donation that year should be labelled as coming from “Anonymous” in the printed programme, but Epstein responded “full name”, according to emails released by the Justice Department.
At the gala, Guardians of the Sphinx attendees receive a prime table for speeches, award presentations and performances from undergraduate and alumni members of the institute’s theatre and a cappella groups, alongside access to a VIP after-party. Guests are served dinner and the traditional Hasty Pudding dessert.
Hasty Pudding has feted prominent figures at annual events for centuries, with the likes of Marc Anthony, Neil Patrick Harris and Dr Oz present in recent years.
A report published by Harvard in 2020 showed the university received more than US$9 million in gifts from Epstein between 1998 and 2008 - when he pleaded guilty to Florida state charges that included procurement of a minor to engage in prostitution - to support research and faculty activities. No gifts were received from Epstein following his conviction.
Harvard in November said it would re-examine its connections to Epstein after an earlier batch of documents showed significant correspondence with Larry Summers, a professor at the school and its former president. Summers, who has said he regretted his relationship with Epstein, took a leave of absence from teaching and stepped back from other public roles.
That ongoing review includes donors to the university mentioned in the Epstein documents, according to university spokesperson Jason Newton.
Harvard in 2011 announced it would rename its New College Theatre “Farkas Hall” in recognition of contributions from Farkas, a 1982 graduate of the university. He is also listed as pledging at least US$100,000 to Harvard’s Stem Cell Institute in 2013.
That’s the same year he started the gala for the Hasty Pudding Institute. The impact on its finances show up in the group’s tax filings. In 2012, the institute reported US$197,898 in contributions. In 2013, the amount jumped to almost US$1.6m.
Farkas made Epstein a partner in a small marina in 2007 and began contacting Epstein about donating to Hasty Pudding at least as early as 2012.
In 2013, Epstein’s assistant said it wasn’t necessary for the men to talk on the phone, because Epstein would donate “no matter what :).” That year he gave US$75,000 through two separate payments.
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