Jeffrey Epstein and a girl whose face is redacted fly over New Mexico, in an undated photo contained in a series of pictures from a trip to the state found in U.S. Department of Justice files.
Jeffrey Epstein’s scientific philanthropy stretched to Albuquerque, where the late sex offender and financier donated $100,000 to the University of New Mexico in 2001.
The funding was restricted to supporting the work of artificial intelligence researcher Ben Goertzel, records obtained byThe New Mexicanshow.
“We applaud the research efforts of University of New Mexico’s Department of Computer Science and wish them continued success with their research in artificial intelligence,” Epstein wrote in a note, enclosed with a $100,000 check from his foundation, C.O.U.Q. Foundation.
The university’s president at the time, William Gordon, responded in a letter addressed “Dear Mr. Epstein” that September, thanking him for the “generous contribution.”
“We will make every effort to justify the confidence you have shown in us,” Gordon wrote to Epstein.
The letters haven’t previously been reported.
Epstein owned Zorro Ranch in southern Santa Fe County from 1993 until his death in federal custody in 2019 as he faced sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution in Florida in 2008 after law enforcement identified dozens of girls who said Epstein sexually abused them and served 13 months in jail and one year of house arrest.
The New Mexicanin December requested records of any donations from Epstein or affiliated entities, and any donations tied to Goertzel’s research in 2001 and 2002. The university said it had no responsive records.
In September, afterThe New Mexicanfiled a new request naming Epstein’s C.O.U.Q. Foundation, UNM produced the gift letter, Gordon’s thank-you note and related financial records. University spokesman Steve Carr said the records were located “based on the inclusion of the COUQ Foundation as a search term.”
Asked whether UNM had ever reviewed ties to Epstein, Carr said “the only tie to Epstein that we’ve discovered was connected to” the paper’s records request.
In response to a follow-up question asking whether the university was aware of the donation before the records request, Carr did not directly answer, saying, “It is my understanding that we have found no other ties to Epstein,” and to his knowledge Epstein never visited the campus.
