An undated image of Bard College President Leon Botstein and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, taken during one of Epstein’s visits to the Hudson Valley college. The photo was part of the trove of U.S. Justice Department materials released early this year. On Wednesday, House Democrats asked the Justice Department and FBI to investigate Botstein as a potential co-conspirator in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary’s ranking Democrat is asking the Justice Department and FBI to investigate former Bard College President Leon Botstein as a potential co-conspirator to Jeffrey Epstein in his yearslong international sex trafficking operation.
In a letter sent Wednesday afternoon to the two federal agencies, U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania urged federal agents to investigate Botstein’s connection to an aspiring musician who was groomed and sexually abused by Epstein. The letter cites an email Botstein sent Epstein in May 2014 asking about the young woman.
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“Is (Jane Doe) for me, or are you keeping her for yourself,” Botstein wrote.
That email was part of a trove of Epstein-related documents the Justice Department released in January, though its sender was redacted. The identity of the sender has not been previously reported.
Raskin, the top Democrat on the powerful House committee, and Dean said the “startling” email and other unredacted messages viewed by the congressional committee raise questions about how Epsteinleveraged his relationship with the former college presidentto legitimize his sex trafficking activities. Botstein, whoresigned from the college presidencyin June, appears to have met with the young woman during the time period Epstein was trafficking her “across state and international lines,” the letter said.
“It is hard to construct any kind of innocent explanation for Botstein’s question and the surrounding events,” according to the letter.
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In a statement to the Times Union, Brandon Weber, the chairman of Bard College’s Board of Trustees, said the college “is undertaking a full review of the allegations made in the House Judiciary Committee’s letter and cooperating with the committee’s investigation, as we have done from the outset.”
He added that Botstein informed Bard earlier Wednesday that he is “resigning immediately from all Bard-affiliated positions, including his professorship and roles with The Orchestra Now and other music programs. Members of the Executive Committee of the Bard College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to accept his resignation.”
Bard’s communications department sent a similar statement to all faculty and staff upon the release of Raskin and Dean’s letter, noting that the college had received “additional communications” from Raskin on Wednesday that prompted the board to accept Botstein’s total resignation.
Botstein sent a statement to the Times Union via his spokesperson, David Wade, calling the allegations in the congressmembers’ letter “untrue” and saying he did not “author or send” the email they reviewed.
