On Jan. 30, the United States Department of Justice released its largest batch of documents, photos and videos from the Jeffrey Epstein files. In the files, it was revealed that the University of Arizona directly coordinated a $50,000 donation from Epstein, including offering to book him a hotel room in Tucson for a conference.
The documents also shed light on Epstein’s relationships and financial interactions with UA professors Stuart Hameroff and Noam Chomsky. The Department of Justice’s Epstein Library shows 89 results for Hameroff and 3,811 results for Chomsky when their names are searched, as of March 23. The UA is mentioned 119 times in the Epstein files, with ASU being mentioned an additional 3,472 times when searched.
Email records from the release show in March 2017, Hameroff was in contact with Epstein about the Science of Consciousness Conference being put on by the UA Center for Consciousness Studies, which Hameroff was the director and founder of.
Epstein pledged “at least 50k before knowing any[t]hing.” Epstein and Hameroff had an established relationship prior to discussions about the program, according to the emails released, in which Hameroff used his arizona.edu email.
Hameroff’s assistant at the time, Abi Behar Montefiore, arranged the donation with Epstein’s accountant Richard Kahn via email. Khan requested the donation be sent to a 501c3 for deductibility. Montefiore suggested the University of Arizona Foundation.
The check was sent to the UA foundation under Epstein’s name and his charity, Gratitude America. That year’s conference in 2017 thanked the charity for its contribution.
Epstein’s donation to the UA foundation was initially discovered in 2019. However, the school claimed it was a one-time anonymous donation.
UA associate vice president of external communications Pam Scott made a statement to The Arizona Republic. “At the time the donation was made by Gratitude America, Ltd., Jeffrey Epstein was not listed on the board of directors and the university was unaware of his involvement,” Scott said.
On Feb 3., Hameroff responded to a post on X regarding the situation. “I deeply regret interacting with Jeffrey Epstein in 2017 and strongly condemn his awful activities. He offered to help financially with a conference problem and I accepted. Nothing more. I have apologized to my colleagues at the University of Arizona, and do so to everyone for my shameful behavior,” Hameroff said.
UA spokesperson Mitch Zak made a statement regarding Hameroff’s involvement with Epstein.
“We recently learned that certain university employees were then aware of Mr. Epstein’s association with Gratitude America Ltd. However, when the one-time contribution was received in 2017, University of Arizona Foundation leaders were not aware of any involvement by Mr. Epstein. No subsequent donations were received,” Zak said.
Chomsky, the 97-year-old famed linguist and UA laureate professor, is listed by the UA Department of Linguistics as “currently on leave.” Chomsky has been known since 2023 to have been connected with Epstein in years past. An account related to Epstein transferred $270,000 to Chomsky in 2018, though Chomsky stated that it was merely to help him move his own money around following troubles from his first marriage and that none of the money came from Epstein himself.
Chomsky and Epstein also had a personal relationship. Chomsky described his relationship with Epstein as “a most valuable experience.” Chomsky had written a letter in support of Epstein, written “to whom it may concern.” The signature on this letter referred to his laureate professor position at the UA, indicating that it was written some time after he took this position in 2017. The letter itself was not dated.
Their correspondence continued until 2019, the year that Epstein was found dead in his prison cell. On Feb. 23, 2019, Epstein contacted Chomsky via email, saying he was under attack by the “putrid press” and asked him for advice.
Chomsky responded, noting the horrible way he felt the press was treating Epstein. He advised Epstein to ignore them unless directly questioned, citing his own extensive experience dealing with hostile media.
“What the vultures dearly want is a public response, which then provides a public opening for an onslaught of venomous attacks, many from just publicity seekers or cranks of all sorts — which are impossible to answer (how do you prove that you are not a neo-Nazi who wants to kill the Jews, or a rapist, or whatever charge comes along?). That’s particularly true now with the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women, which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder,” Chomsky said to Epstein in his email.
Zak noted that Chomsky’s medical leave has been in effect and unpaid since Oct. 23, 2023.
Epstein had been a registered sex offender since he pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor in 2008, meaning that all of these relationships had occurred years after Epstein’s registry.
On Feb. 6, this year’s Science of Consciousness Conference was canceled which Hameroff confirmed on X that was due to multiple speakers and organizers of the conference being mentioned in the Epstein files, including himself.
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