Forced To Quit Over Epstein Ties, How Joichi Ito Rebuilt His Career In Japan

He once held top positions at some of America's most prestigious institutions. Forced to resign over his close ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Joichi Ito has now quietly rebuilt his professional life in Japan.

Ito served as director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also held a position at Harvard University and served on the boards of the MacArthur Foundation and The New York Times.

In 2019, he had to resign from his position at MIT after reports revealed that he helped conceal the source of millions of dollars in donations linked to Epstein. He subsequently stepped down from other roles as well.

Now, six years later, Ito is helping lead a major government-backed project supported by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her close team, according to The NY Times.

A spokeswoman for Japan's cabinet secretariat said officials are aware that some people are concerned about Ito's past ties to Epstein. However, she said the government has not found proof that Ito committed any wrongdoing himself.

"We haven't confirmed any wrongdoing by him and we believe he is highly knowledgeable," she said.

The project, the Global Startup Campus Initiative, has more than $400 million in public funding and aims to create a major startup and innovation hub in Tokyo. The idea is to partner with leading universities from the US and Japan.

When the Japanese government approached universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University and Keio University to become partners, they reportedly stepped back.

Last year, Martial Hebert, a dean at Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science, said, "We will not be part of any project that involves Joi."

According to interviews and internal emails, officials from both the government and universities said Ito's past connection to Epstein was a major concern. The report shows that the two exchanged more than 4,000 emails.

In 2019, an article published by The New Yorker revealed details about how Ito handled donations connected to Jeffrey Epstein. Ito took steps to conceal Epstein's role in donating money to the Media Lab at MIT, it reported.

He also reportedly visited Epstein's private island in the Caribbean several times. Their relationship appeared friendly enough that Ito once joked about naming his daughter "Jeffrina".

However, in earlier statements to local media, Ito said he deeply regretted soliciting donations from Epstein. In 2019, he said, "I was never involved in, never heard him talk about, and never saw any evidence of the horrific acts that he was accused of."