Bard President Botstein retiring after Jeffrey Epstein ties Revealed
FILE PHOTO: Bard College President Leon Botstein speaks during the “Changing Landscapes: From the Digital Classroom to the Global Campus” panel during the TIME Higher Education Summit on October 18, 2012 in New York City.
Cemal Countess | Getty Images
Bard College Minister Leon Botstein On Friday, he announced that he would retire at the end of June after 51 years of leading the prestigious New York liberal arts school, a day after a law firm retained by the Board of Trustees filed a report critical of his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Nothing that Chairman Botstein did in connection with his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was illegal,” WilmerHale attorney Jamie Gorelick wrote in a brief to the trustees obtained by CNBC.
“However, Chairman Botstein made decisions during this relationship that reflected Bard’s leadership,” Gorelick, who served as an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, wrote. Clinton administration.
Poet Hired WilmerHale in February to review 79-year-old president’s relationship He met with Epstein after details about their communications became public when the Justice Department released documents that made it clear they were more extensive than previously known.
Botstein, a famous name conductorHe said he groomed Epstein as a donor for Bard, which is based in Annandale-on-Hudson. His pursuit of Epstein comes several years after the shady money manager pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting a minor for prostitution and was sentenced to 13 months in prison.
“President Botstein argues strongly that Bard’s funding needs are critical,” Gorelick wrote in a summary of his report to Bard’s board of trustees.
“His view was, ‘I would take money from Satan if he would let me do God’s work,'” Gorelick said.
“Chairman Botstein said he saw no risk to Bard’s reputation in pursuing Epstein.
The lawyer wrote that he “did not consider that exposure to Epstein posed a potential risk to Bard students and that his actions could validate or legitimize Epstein to potential victims or their parents.”
“Chairman Botstein downplayed and did not fully accurately describe his relationship with Epstein in his public statements and statements to the Bard community.”
In addition to Botstein, Epstein has also been linked to President Donald Trump, former Harvard President Larry Summers and Britain’s King Henry III. He had friendships with many prominent people, such as Charles’ brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019, just weeks after he was arrested on child sex trafficking charges.
A woman who answered the phone at Botstein’s home on Friday referred questions to the university’s media affairs department, but it did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Botstein’s retirement statement
Botstein, 79, did not mention the WilmerHale report or Epstein in his retirement announcement announcing his role in Bard’s $1 billion fundraising campaign, which wrapped in January.
In an email to students and faculty, Bard said he had previously notified the Board of Trustees of his intention to retire and was “focusing my energies as a faculty member, teacher, and musician.”
“I will continue with the Bard Music Festival, SummerScape, and the Bard Conservatory, and live at the Finberg House,” he wrote.
Bard’s Board of Trustees executive committee said in a statement obtained by CNBC that the board was “grateful to President Botstein for his five decades of service to Bard College, his numerous accomplishments, and the lasting impact of his leadership.”
But the committee also noted that WilmerHale submitted his retirement Thursday after its review of communications between him and Epstein was sent to the board.
WilmerHale’s findings about the Bard’s president
In his brief, Gorelick wrote that in deciding to pursue possible donations from Epstein in 2012, Botstein did not attempt to understand the details of Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and “disagreed with the opinion expressed by a senior faculty member he asked to assist Epstein with a proposal that Bard should not associate with Epstein.”
“Chairman Botstein relied on the view that a person is convicted of crimes involving sexual intercourse.
“A minor who is a ‘common sex offender’ may be presumed to be rehabilitated in the same way that, in his opinion, any prisoner should be subject to this presumption,” Gorelick wrote.
He said he had not discussed with Botstein’s board whether he would accept donations from Epstein or “whether he could appropriately accept payments from Epstein.”
“Chairman Botstein did not disclose or flag to the Board, which approved contributions made by an organization called Advanced Education in 2011 and 2012, that these funds came from Epstein.” Gorelick wrote.
And when you’re a billionaire Gorelick wrote that Leon Black made a donation to Bard in 2014, which “Chairman Botstein understood was made at the behest of Epstein and was disclosed solely as Black’s funds.”
“In 2016, Chairman Botstein accepted fees as part of a consulting agreement with an Epstein entity,” Gorelick wrote. “He did not disclose the agreement to the Board of Directors on the grounds that he planned to donate these funds to Bard.”
The lawyer said Botstein explained that the funds “were donated to Bard over the years by transferring contributions from himself and/or his wife, and were not specifically stated to have come from Epstein.”
“Therefore, the documents cannot verify the contribution of these fees to Bard on behalf of the Board.” Gorelick wrote.
“While we are pleased with Leon Botstein’s decision to step back, this does not go far enough,” Bard student Owen Denker, a spokesman for the “Take Back Bard” group that tried to take down Botstein after his ties to Epstein were revealed, told CNBC. he said.
“He needs to stop teaching and being an administrator immediately,” Denker said.
“We also need to see that the systemic culture of sexual abuse is addressed and shared management, including faculty, staff and students, to ensure similar neglect does not occur again,” Denker said.
