Overview
- Justice Department files detail cordial emails in which Leon Botstein solicited support from Jeffrey Epstein and proposed visits to Bard High School Early College sites.
- An aide invited Epstein to BHSEC Queens in 2012, and Botstein asked on Feb. 28, 2013 if he wanted to visit the Manhattan campus.
- Records show Epstein donated $125,000 to BHSEC programs, beginning with $75,000 in 2011 and followed by a $50,000 gift and in‑kind contributions.
- Botstein says Epstein never visited the high schools, while the DOJ documents note a February 2013 visit to Bard College in the Hudson Valley.
- The emails include flattering notes from Botstein that reference Vladimir Nabokov and a Sept. 30, 2013 message in which Epstein directs an aide to dress a woman "for Bottstein."