Transcription
We know that Harvard cut ties with Epstein in 2008 after being convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. How was he able to circumvent that severed relationship and still maintain contacts inside of Harvard? Yes. So, he was able to do that a few ways.
We do already know from a previous Harvard report on their relationship to Epstein that he had solicited donations had helped donations uh for from other people to Martin Novak uh someone he previously funded who studies genetics and evolution. We also know of course that he maintained relationships for years with a lot of these scientists. But these new document released really show the extent of those relationships.
So besides Martin Novak, there's the famed geneticist George Church. He discussed investing in uh $10 million in companies, including one that was co-founded by Church. We also uh saw in the files these undated photographs that appear to show Church and Novak on Epstein's Island. While they're undated, an email with them was sent in 2012. So these all continued for years after his previous conviction.
And according to the latest batch of emails released by DOJ, Epstein held a deep interest in the field specifically of genetics. Uh you have reported on this. It showed that he paid for novel genetic testing to study regenerative medicine. Were these connections tied to that same kind of obsession he had for researching ways to extend his own life? It definitely appears so.
So George Church who is a geneticist who worked on a lot of this research about gene editing uh actually connected Church to the physician who started those genetic tests for him. And then we see in the emails between uh Church and Epstein that the proposals that Church is making for funding different investments, different companies include uh gene editing animals and plants to be dis disease resistant uh studying the genetics of super centinarians or people who are over the age of 110 and even developing a coldresistant elephant which is a nod to Church's longtime publicly stated goal of resurrecting the woolly mammoth.
And have any of these scientists or Harvard uh the university responded to the findings in these latest emails? Sarah, so Harvard pointed to us to their statement in November that says that they are reopening the investigation that they have had into the ties to Epstein. Novak and Church did not respond to us directly, but they have said in the past uh Church apologized in 2019 for his association with Epstein, and Novak in 2021 said that he regrets developing that connection between Harvard and Epstein. It's important to note that neither of these men has been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein's crimes, but this does raise new questions or renew the questions about Harvard's policy and its previous investigation.
At first, when the Justice Department was forced to release these documents, the ramifications for corporate America were quite limited. But now, we have seen a steady stream of significant resignations caused by executives links to Jeffrey Epstein in these files. The latest one is uh Tom Pritsker, the uh executive chairman at Hyatt Hotels. He said he's stepping down because he says he exercised quote terrible judgment in keeping ties with Epstein and Gileain Maxwell. Last week it was Kathy Rumler, the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs after reporting by CNN's Kfile and other media outlets. Rumler says that she's stepping down at the end of June. Uh there was a lot of scrutiny over her personal messages with Epstein and gifts that she had accepted. Brad Karp resigning as well as the chairman of the prestigious law firm Paul Weiss. Casey Wasserman, uh the Hollywood talent agent and chair of the 2028 LA Olympics. Uh he's selling his talent agency. He said that his ties to Epstein in the Epstein files have become a quote distraction to his firm. And late last year, Larry Summers, the famed economist, he stepped down from the board of Open AI and he said he was quote deeply ashamed by his ties to Epste.
Now, I do want to stress that none of these business leaders have been accused of wrongdoing. However, they have been accused of exercising poor judgment, especially because some of them kept ties with Epstein long after his 2008 guilty plea for procuring a minor for prostitution. Now, I also think it's noteworthy that this may just be the beginning here. I I talked to Bill George, who served on the board of directors over at Goldman Sachs and Exon Mobile, Target, and other companies, and he told me, quote, "This is not over." He said, "This is just the tip of the iceberg. We're going to see more prominent people get in."
Now, the problem for companies is just how toxic this Epstein issue has become. Companies are doing damage control. They're trying to protect their reputations. The last thing an investment bank wants is to lose a spot on an a lucrative IPO or a mega merger because clients are worried about the fact that one of their executives was linked to Jeffrey Epstein. So, we've got to stay tuned here, Briana, because there's millions of documents spanning many years, and we could very well see more resignations to come. Back to you.
Yeah, he had many friends in high places. We're joined now by Democratic Representative Sua Subramanium of Virginia. He serves on the House Oversight Committee. How do you respond to some of the criticism that we've already heard from survivors and others that this kind of accountability that we're seeing in the UK, at least his arrest, is not being seen here in the United States.
They're absolutely right. I mean, you know, we're seeing a former prince now being arrested. I mean, think about that. And a former prime minister right in Norway as well. You're seeing really powerful people being held accountable in Europe. You're not seeing the same thing in the United States. I know a CEO just resigned, so there's something Bill Gates isn't speaking at a conference now, but it's a far cry from what we're seeing in Europe. And we need to see more accountability from this administration when it comes to these folks who are involved in the Epstein saga.
Also in the UK, Peter Mandlesen is under investigation for alleged misconduct in public office as well. He's accused of sharing market sensitive information that could have financially benefited Epstein during the 2008 financial crisis when he was uh Britain's business secretary. Uh when survivors demand that investigators follow the money, I imagine part of it undoubtedly means this because these kind of communications were found in the files, but there's something more to that as well, right?
Yeah. Well, again, the sex trafficking was related to the finances and financial crimes. It was all related, including his social life, too. So, Epstein mixed the three very uh carefully, but very well. And the one thing that I am very disappointed in is that this Treasury Department under this administration, uh, the United States generally has not looked enough into his financial crimes. It relates to his sex trafficking crimes. Uh but it's also going to open up in a whole different uh avenue of questioning that we have about his endeavors and and really they're doing it in Europe and it's only because we got these files released. There's still two and a half million files out there. So we still don't have the transparency we need. But even just getting this far, look at what's happened. So that's why we've been doing this entire investigation in the first place is to to uncover crimes like this.
What about uh Les Waxner? He he took part in this closed door deposition yesterday. Uh, your colleague, ranking member Robert Garcia, says that uh, the retail billionaire told lawmakers he'd never been questioned directly by the FBI or DOJ about Epstein. He denies knowing anything about sex trafficking. But after Epstein's death, an FBI official referred to Wexner in an email as a secondary co-conspirator. His lawyers spoke to prosecutors way back in 2007 and in in 2019 as well, but he was never directly questioned. Why is that?
Ex. Exactly. It's part of the cover up. This is part of the reason why the American public is so upset about this entire uh Epstein saga is because they didn't ask the right questions. They didn't do a full investigation. Then they gave him a sweetheart deal and suppressed all the work that the investigators did do. And so we have more questions. I mean, Les Wexner, his memory all of a sudden goes when it comes to talking about Jeffrey Epstein. He's clearly not being forthcoming with our committee. And so that's why we need all the documents is to find Les Wexner and what he did in these files.
We're also going to see uh some depositions at least they've been scheduled according to oversight chair comr with Richard Khan and Darren Indk. What do you want to learn from them? They are the executives of the estate. They have come up many times when we've talked to victims. uh they know a lot more than maybe anyone else and so they were very cooperative. The estate gave us a lot of documents last year. If they're as cooperative as they were last year in the document release, I think we can make a breakthrough in getting more names, getting more information, maybe more insight into the crimes Jeffrey Epste and Gla Maxwell committed.
Congressman Sua Submanium, thank you so much for the time. First two.