$ cat ./records/mit-media-lab-receives-2-million-anonymous-donation-routed-throug-2014.txt
MIT Media Lab Receives $2 Million Anonymous Donation Routed Through Jeffrey Epstein
[RECORD.TXT] · cat --full
In October and November 2014, MIT's Media Lab received a $2 million donation listed in internal records as anonymous but routed through Jeffrey Epstein, who personally delivered the funds and personally solicited the donation from a donor he did not name. The arrangement was revealed in a September 2019 New Yorker investigation by Ronan Farrow and is corroborated by MIT internal emails released following an independent review. MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito, who had also received personal funds from Epstein, resigned after publication. The Gates Foundation's involvement was indirect — Bill Gates was among the donors Epstein claimed to be intermediating — but the episode exposed how Epstein leveraged philanthropic relationships for social credibility.
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Related Accomplishments
June 2026
Melinda French Gates commits an additional $215 million to women's health through Pivotal
Melinda French Gates announced in June 2026 that she would donate an additional $215 million through her organization Pivotal to focus on women's reproductive and midlife health, bringing her total support for women's health to about $600 million over two years. The commitment underscored French Gates's independent philanthropic path since stepping down from the Gates Foundation in 2024 and her focus on areas she has said are chronically underfunded. It came amid broader cuts to U.S. reproductive- and global-health funding.
January 2026
Bill Gates publishes the 2026 Gates Foundation Annual Letter, 'Reaching 2045'
Bill Gates published the 2026 Gates Foundation Annual Letter, titled 'Reaching 2045,' framing the next two decades as the Foundation spends down its endowment before closing in 2045. Gates wrote that his optimism now 'comes with footnotes,' questioning whether global generosity will keep pace with rising wealth and whether innovation will be scaled to reduce inequality. He pledged to spend much of 2026 advocating for child-health funding and set a goal of again halving child mortality in the global South by 2045, while voicing both excitement about AI for health and concern about managing its disruption.
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