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Reid Hoffman said he once stayed one night on Epstein’s island for an MIT fundraiser.
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The LinkedIn co-founder told the Newcomer podcast that he was told the visit would make Epstein more likely to donate.
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Huffman has previously publicly apologized for his interactions with Epstein.
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman said he wished he had known more before agreeing to spend the night on Jeffrey Epstein’s island.
In a Dec. 1 episode of the Eric Newcomer Podcast, Hoffman said he visited the island as part of a fundraising effort for the MIT Foundation and was told the visit would make it more likely Epstein would donate to MIT.
“Note to self: Google before you go,” Hoffman said on the podcast. He said he spent one night on the island, which has a swimming pool, “a bunch of guest rooms” and a courtyard.
Hoffman said he had been to the island once.House Oversight Committee
Huffman maintains that he only interacted with Epstein, whose death in 2019 was ruled a suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, through his fundraising work for the MIT Media Lab. On the “Newcomer” podcast, he called Epstein a “masterful internet savvy” and recalled a 2015 dinner he hosted for an MIT researcher in Palo Alto, California.
Hoffman said former MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito asked him if Epstein could attend the dinner, which was also attended by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Similar to his visit to the island, Hoffman said he was later told that the financier said he would be more likely to donate if he attended the dinner.
“He was kind of online, trying to meet people and stuff like that,” Huffman said on the podcast. Huffman also reiterated his previous apology for his relationship with Epstein.
In 2019, a spokesperson for Zuckerberg confirmed the dinner to Business Insider and said it was the only time the Facebook co-founder met with Epstein. A spokesperson for Musk also confirmed the Tesla CEO’s attendance.
In a 2019 email to Axios, Huffman acknowledged multiple interactions with Epstein that he said were solely for fundraising purposes and said he was told MIT had reviewed and approved the convicted sex offender’s participation. He said in an email that he “deeply regrets” his involvement.
“I went and, you know, apologized very publicly because I realized that and by that time I had cut down on contact with him, right, not liking meetings and everything else in any way,” Huffman said on the podcast. “I think he would still send me an email every now and then and say, ‘Hey, can we talk on the phone?’ And I said, ‘Oh, maybe one day,’ which, you know, means never, right?”
Hoffman said it was important to seek justice for deceased pedophile victims and urged the government to release “every piece of intelligence they have about Epstein” unredacted.
In November, after months of pressure from Congress, including from some fellow Republicans, President Donald Trump signed a bill that would release Justice Department documents related to Epstein. The department has until Saturday, Dec. 19 to comply with the order.
Trump also ordered the Justice Department to investigate Huffman and other individuals he considered political opponents, including former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, over their ties to Epstein.
Hoffman, a billionaire and major Democratic donor, has previously said he had to hire security after Musk fanned conspiracy theories about his ties to Epstein.
Read the original article on Business Insider
