Epstein Ties

• Leon Botstein kondigde zijn pensioen aan op de dag dat de resultaten van het onderzoek naar zijn connecties met Epstein werden vrijgegeven • Het bestuur van Bard College "stemde voor de beëindiging" van de 51-jarige termijn van Leon Botstein, de president van de school, vorige maand nadat bestuursleden de resultaten kregen van een onafhankelijk onderzoek naar zijn relatie met Jeffrey Epstein, volgens e-mails die door de Guardian zijn ingezien. • Botstein presenteerde zijn vertrek in een verklaring op 1 mei als een lang gepland pensioen.

US commerce secretary to sit for transcribed interview as part of House oversight committee’s broader investigationThe US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, will appear before the House oversight and reform committee on Wednesday to answer questions over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.Lutnick agreed in March to sit for a transcribed interview with the committee following the justice department’s release of millions of documents related to Epstein, which included documents showing that Lutnick continued correspondence with Epstein after the disgraced financier had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. The session is part of the committee’s broader investigation into Epstein. Continue reading...

Investigation found Botstein – who had claimed he wasn’t friends with Epstein – made 25 visits to his townhouseLeon Botstein has announced he is stepping down from the helm of Bard College, after an independent review of his contacts with Jeffrey Epstein found the college president’s frequent interactions with the convicted sex offender “could have alerted” him to the possibility that he and Bard would be facilitating Epstein’s abuse of women.An investigation by the WilmerHale law firm, which had been commissioned by Bard’s board of trustees earlier this year to review Botstein’s interactions with Epstein, found the Bard president – who had previously claimed he was not friends with Epstein – made about 25 visits to Epstein’s townhouse, a two-day visit to Epstein’s Little St James Island, and that there were two visits by Epstein to Bard. These visits, WilmerHale reported, included “multiple women” who have since been identified as victims of Epstein. Continue reading...

WilmerHale, the law firm examining Leon Botstein’s communications with Jeffrey Epstein, said review is ‘ongoing’Bard College’s president, Leon Botstein, told his staff at a meeting this week that there was no way he could have known that Jeffrey Epstein – who was a convicted sex offender during their interactions over the years – was actually “reprehensible” and predicted he would soon be cleared of any hint of impropriety about their relationship, according to sources who witnessed the remarks.The liberal arts college’s board of trustees hired in February the white-shoe law firm WilmerHale to independently investigate communications between Epstein and Botstein. Continue reading...