Charities say they never received donations touted by Jeffrey Epstein: report

Numerous charities and hospitals financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested on sex trafficking charges over the weekend, claimed to have showered with donations never received the funds, according to an NBC News investigation.

Press releases from Epstein’s Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation claimed he made donations to more than 100 organizations after his 2008 plea deal, while Epstein has said he donated $30 million to Harvard University before the deal.

{mosads}Federal tax filings, meanwhile, say Epstein’s foundation, Gratitude America Ltd., gave $1.84 million to charities between 2015 and 2017.

However, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which maintains a database from 2006 of all major gifts of more than a million dollars, has no record of any gifts from Epstein, staff writer Maria DiMento told NBC News.

Twenty-four of the 56 organizations that were listed as grant recipients from Epstein’s foundation in press releases or IRS filings from 2010 to 2017 said they had no record or gifts from Epstein or Gratitude America.

Organizations saying they had no records of donations included Duke University, Ohio State University, the Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the latter of which said Epstein simply bought tickets to two benefits in the 1990s.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation also denied receiving a donation, although Gratitude America’s filings indicated one, according to NBC.

Five organizations confirmed they had received donations from Epstein or the foundation, including the Santa Fe Institute, a research institute that said it last received a donation from Epstein in 2010.

“Following news of Mr. Epstein’s actions,” a spokesperson told NBC News, “the SFI leadership team held a meeting and unanimously decided the Institute would not accept any donations from Mr. Epstein.”

Harvard University and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society said that while they received gifts from Epstein, they were not in the time frame listed by the foundation, between 2010 and 2012. Harvard was not aware of any gifts since a $6.5 million donation in 2003, despite foundation press releases referencing $30 million in donations, according to NBC.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who received $7,000 in campaign contributions from Epstein through political action committees in the 1990s, has said he will donate equivalent funds to sexual violence charities.

Epstein has pleaded not guilty to the new charges.