https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne8b47/two-researchers-resign-in-protest-over-mit-media-labs-ties-to-jeffrey-epstein

Two researchers have cut ties with MIT Media Lab over its connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the multimillionaire sex offender who died of an apparent suicide earlier this month while awaiting federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors. Ethan Zuckerman, the head of the Media Lab’s Center for Civic Media, published a Medium post detailing why he is leaving the research institute by May 2020, the end of this academic year. J. Nathan Matias, a visiting professor, also announced his intention to leave the research institute. MIT Media Lab is an “antidisciplinary” research institute that tries to blend technology and media together into innovative products or services, relying heavily on close collaboration with corporate and military partners.

On August 9th, the night before Epstein’s death, an unsealed deposition revealed a list of men Epstein allegedly forced a young woman to have sex with. The list included the late Marvin Minsky, an MIT scientist and early AI pioneer who was a founding faculty member of the Media Lab. Zuckerman had a conversation with Joi Ito, the Media Lab’s current director, about the institute’s relationship to Epstein. Zuckerman wrote that "Joi told me that evening that the Media Lab's ties to Epstein went much deeper." The next day, on August 10th, Zuckerman informed Ito that he would leave the Media Lab.