A charity run by the late billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein donated at least $150,000 to the group behind a Harvard University satirical club, tax records reveal.
Epstein’s Gratitude America foundation handed over $50,000 in donations to The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 on at least three occasions after Epstein’s conviction for soliciting a minor for sex in 2008, The Boston Globe reports.
The money was donated by the U.S. Virgin Islands-based charity in 2016, 2018 and 2019, according to reports by The Globe and The Harvard Crimson.
The Hasty Pudding Institute is an umbrella body that oversees three groups; the Hasty Pudding social club; Hasty Pudding Theatricals known for its satirical revues; and a cappella singing group Harvard Krokodiloes.
While Epstein is not a Harvard alumnus, he reportedly donated $9 million to the university before his 2008 conviction. Until details of his later donations to the Pudding emerged, he was listed by the group as one of the ‘Guardians of the Sphinx’ according to The Crimson.
The title is awarded to those who have donated $50,000, with supporters given a series of perks including performance tickets and access to VIP after-parties, the institute’s website says.
In a statement to The Globe, the Pudding’s alumni board said the organization was “perpetually focused on doing right, and philanthropy is at the core of our mission.”
“The Pudding has contributed far more than the donations in question to community and cultural organizations, including the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS), the nation’s leading organization for empowering exploited and trafficked girls and young women,” the statement added.
A non-profit group, the institute receives no funding from Harvard. Its graduate board is chaired by Andrew L Farkas, a real estate investor who was president of the club as a student in the early 1980s.
Bloomberg has previously reported that Farkas had a business relationship with Epstein and that the two men entered a joint venture to operate a small marina in the Virgin Islands in 2007, not far from the billionaire’s private island of Little St James.
“While Mr Farkas’ dealings with Mr Epstein were entirely related to their business relationship, he regrets their association and condemns Epstein’s crimes,” a spokesperson for Farkas told the Globe Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Epstein scandal continues to reverberate in Washington D.C. On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee published a previously unseen series of photographs documenting the financier’s estate on Little St James.
