A forensic investigation commissioned by Bard College has challenged the authenticity of an email found in files belonging to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and attributed to Leon Botstein that has led to a call for a federal probe into the school’s former president.
The19-page reportissued last week by Washington, D.C.-based FTI Cybersecurity, said the email warrants further examination to determine its authenticity. In the email, Botstein purportedly asked if a woman Epstein was sending to visit “is for me, or are you keeping her for yourself.”
The report, commissioned by the school’s Board of Trustees, pointed to several issues with the email that suggested it might not be authentic, including that it could not be found on the college’s servers and that Botstein’s calendar placed him somewhere else at the time Epstein was supposedly sending the woman to visit.
“While it is not possible at this time to establish with certainty that the exchange was entirely fabricated, indicators are clear that it is highly suspicious,” the report stated. “There is a strong substantive basis for questioning the authenticity, integrity, and origin of the disputed emails.”
The report says that Botstein had a packed schedule on May 17, 2014, the day when the email suggests Botstein was requesting availability to be with a young woman in Epstein’s circle. The email has not been found on Bard’s servers, and the version appearing in the DOJ files is not an original, but rather an email Epstein forwarded to himself. Investigators said it was possible Epstein had edited it, as he had a documented history of editing emails he forwarded to himself. The report includes several examples of Epstein-edited emails from other senders.
The email message is among the records cited by members of Congressseekinga federal criminal investigation of Botstein by both the FBI and the Department of Justice. After Ranking Democratic House Judiciary Committee Member Jamie Raskin’s call for the probe was announced on Oct. 7, Botstein resigned from all remaining roles at the college, including his positions leading Bard’s graduate orchestra and the summer music festival, both of which he founded and has led.
Investigators said their findings raised substantial questions about the exchange between the men but did not conclusively establish that the email was fabricated.
The Daily Catch, which first examined the email in March in its weeks-long review of the Department of Justice “Epstein files,”reportedearlier this month on its contents and the difficulties of independently verifying it.
In relation to the calendar, the report noted that Botstein purportedly wrote to Epstein, “I am only available on sat,” meaning the following Saturday. But on that date, Botstein was at a commencement at Longy Conservatory of Music, a Bard-affiliated institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Botstein’s calendar shows. He then had an evening orchestra rehearsal at Bard, according to a copy of the calendar included in the report.
Botstein reiterated his denial in a new statement: “As I previously said, I did not author or send that email. I appreciate the effort to find the truth.”
Ina statementon Thursday, Bard said it is “a community that believes in transparency and the right to due process. Our review of the other claims in Representative Raskin’s letter remains ongoing, and we are committed to establishing the facts.”
Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee Democrats questioned the forensic analysis. “The report also raises a vague claim that the email could have been manipulated without explaining why Epstein would forge an email incriminating himself,” Nelly Decker, a spokeswoman for House Judiciary Democrats, said in a statement.
Botstein’s packed calendar for the Saturday in question had him scheduled to depart Bard at 8 a.m. for Cambridge, Massachusetts, arriving at noon. At 12:30 p.m., he was to put on robes and line up for commencement at Bard’s Longy School of Music, followed by a procession and a commencement and awards ceremony beginning at 1:15 p.m.
Notes said he would address the graduates and speak the Latin degree-conferral language for Master of Music recipients.
“LB TO DEPART AS SOON AS CEREMONY CONCLUDES,” the calendar instructed.
