Stanford University has acknowledged that it accepted a $50,000 donation from a foundation funded by the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, Bloomberg reports. A spokesman said the donation was made in 2004, however, before the wealthy financier was convicted for soliciting a minor for prostitution. The university’s physics department reportedly received the donation from Epstein’s COUQ Foundation Inc. Donations from Epstein, who once dubbed himself a “science philanthropist,” have rocked the tech community and several educational institutions weeks after he died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow said earlier this week that the university was reviewing millions of dollars worth of donations from Epstein, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Rafael Reif admitted that his own signature was found on a 2012 note to Epstein expressing thanks for his generous donations. MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito resigned earlier this month after the New Yorker reported he’d accepted more funding from Epstein than he initially disclosed and apparently sought to conceal the donations.
