Bard president Leon Botstein stepping down after inquiry into his Epstein ties

Leon Botstein has announced he is stepping down from the helm of Bard College, after an independent review of his contacts with Jeffrey Epstein found the college president’s frequent interactions with the convicted sex offender “could have alerted” him to the possibility that he and Bard would be facilitating Epstein’s abuse of women.

An investigation by the WilmerHale law firm, which had been commissioned by Bard’s board of trustees earlier this year to review Botstein’s interactions with Epstein, found the Bard president – who had previously claimed he was not friends with Epstein – made about 25 visits to Epstein’s townhouse, a two-day visit to Epstein’s Little St James Island, and that there were two visits by Epstein to Bard. These visits, WilmerHale reported, included “multiple women” who have since been identified as victims of Epstein.

Epstein and Botstein, who has not been charged with wrongdoing in connection with his relationship with the accused sex trafficker, were in contact from 2012 to 2019.

The WilmerHale review also suggested that Botstein had been warned by a senior faculty member that he should not engage with Epstein, who the president was courting as a donor to the college. The report by Wilmer Hale found that instead of heeding that apparent warning, Botstein relied on the view that “an ordinary sex offender” like Epstein could be presumed to be rehabilitated, since he had served time in prison.

Botstein forcefully argued, Wilmer Hale said, that “Bard’s need for funds was paramount”.

“His view was, ‘I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God’s work,’” the report stated.

In a statement released on Friday evening, Bard’s board of trustees said they received WilmerHale’s findings on 30 April and that Botstein then submitted his “retirement”, effective 30 June. In a statement, the board said it was grateful for Botstein’s five decades of service to Bard, and called for an “orderly transition”.

“The concerns raised in recent months have been serious and deeply felt. We are grateful to those who came forward to share their perspectives, and we recognize the importance of the questions that prompted this review and the deliberation that followed,” the board said. It also shared a summary of WilmerHale’s findings.

The WilmerHale review raises new questions about Botstein’s financial interactions with Epstein. WilmerHale described how Botstein accepted fees under a consulting agreement with an Epstein entity in 2016, but he did not disclose the agreement to the board on the grounds that he intended to donate those funds to Bard. Botstein appears to have told WilmerHale investigators, according to the law firm’s findings, that the funds were donated to Bard by rolling them into his and/or his wife’s contributions over the years, and were not separately identified from Epstein.