Larry Summers: ‘Wish I asked your advice earlier’

Summers stepped down from teaching at Harvard University due to the revelations in the Epstein Files.

The analysis shows more than 3,000 direct emails from at least 2010 to 2019, some of them including Summers’ wife, Elisa New, whom he married in 2005.

Originally they communicated regarding banking regulations and arranged meetings in Cambridge and New York.

But Summers also confided in Epstein about personal matters, including – in late 2018 and early 2019 – what appeared to be his relationship with an unnamed woman:

On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 7:58 AM Larry Summers wrote:

I’m sure this is very amusing for you
Young divas are not part of my life experience

On Nov 14, 2018, at 1:08 PM, Jeffrey Epstein wrote:

she feels proud of herself. . you are her prey. not the reverse . strong enough to protect her from herself . thats the mantra

On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 8:12 AM Larry Summers wrote:

Wish I asked your advice earlier.

Epstein also corresponded with Summers’ wife, connecting her with potential donors such as the private equity investor Leon Black. A spokesperson for Elisa New said Harvard had been pleased to receive a donation from Black.

Summers and Epstein discussed how Epstein could donate to her Poetry in America project (he later donated $110,000) while avoiding any reputational fallout with Harvard university.

On Nov 14, 2014, at 6:40 AM, Jeffrey E. wrote:

the question is does harvard have a problem if the money comes for My foundation, with my name.
everything else carries with it risk to me. diverting funds, income tax imputed etc.

On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 7:45 AM, Larry Summers wrote:

Don’t know. Might and gossip risk. What about giving to tv station or film makers cooperative or u invest in Lisa production company?

From: Jeffrey E.
To: Larry Summers
Date: Friday, November 14, 2014 11:58 AM

lets talk

Last November, Summers said he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions and took “full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein”. He said his association with Epstein had been a “major error in judgment”.

Regarding Epstein’s donation, a spokesperson for New said she had been unaware at the time of any reason for Epstein not to donate to Harvard and had given him the chance of donating directly to Harvard or Verse Video Education (her non-profit). She has said she regrets accepting a donation from Epstein.

Epstein organised dinners and meetings for Summers with high-profile figures, including the former Israeli PM Ehud Barak, the tech tycoon Bill Gates, the Japanese investor Joi Ito, the PayPal founder Peter Thiel, and the venture capitalist Reid Hoffman. He acted as an intermediary between Summers and Staley, and arranged a film screening with Allen, which Summers and New attended.

On Feb 17, 2013, at 7:07 PM, Larry Summers wrote:

Jeff yesterday was great fun. Lisa thrilled at woody. Thank you.

Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn: ‘People should take lessons from you’

There are more than 3,500 emails in the files between Epstein and the office of the veteran film-maker Allen, two-thirds of them involving Allen’s wife, Soon-Yi Previn, which suggest an extensive friendship involving frequent meals, private screenings, gifts and trips together, including to Italy and France.

From: Soon Yi Previn
To: Jeffrey E.
Date: Saturday, January 13, 2018 10:22 PM

OMG you’re the best. I love how thorough you are. I love your all encompassing gifts. People should take lessons from you.

Among the extensive correspondence, Previn emailed Epstein’s assistant on 31 May 2019, a month before his arrest, discussing a dinner at “the standard 7pm”.

In May 2016, Previn quoted Allen as referring to the “Salem atmosphere” surrounding Bill Cosby’s sexual abuse scandal – the comedian was convicted of indecent assault in 2018 before the conviction was overturned three years later – while discussing sexual abuse allegations against Allen:

From: Jeffrey Epstein
To: Soon Yi Previn
Date: May 25, 2016, at 6:05 AM

cosby whether guilty or not, is being burned at the stake

From: Soon Yi Previn
To: Jeffrey Epstein
Date: May 25, 2016, at 6:05 AM

They all want blood.

From: Jeffrey Epstein
To: Soon Yi Previn
Date: May 25, 2016, at 6:15 AM

have to be careful, the crowd needs a witch to burn, and there are not many left

From: Soon Yi Previn
To: Jeffrey Epstein
Date: Wed, May 25, 2016 at 7:32 AM

From Woody: agree on Salem atmosphere but my situation is so radically different than Cosby’s That while I do expect (and get) many ugly unfair accusations, he has to battle fifty women and criminal charges. I have one irate mother whose case was investigated and discredited and I no criminal charges ever did or could come my way. And yet I do receive a huge amount of flack. Much of it because SHE has good press connections and I have none.

Allen was accused by his ex-partner, the actor Mia Farrow, of sexually abusing his adopted seven-year-old daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992, a claim he has consistently denied and resulted in no charges.

Almost four months later, Previn sent Epstein a Daily Mail article about Anthony Weiner, a former US congressman who went to prison for sexting a 15-year-old. She called the young woman “despicable and disgusting” and “manipulative”.

From: Soon Yi Previn
To: Jeffrey Epstein
Date: Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 7:31 AM

I know. It’s an incredible story. You have to feel sorry for him. He can’t seem to learn. Most importantly I feel sony for his wife. I also thought it was disgusting what the 15-year-old did to him.

I hate women who take advantage of guys and she is definitely one of them. She knew exactly what she was doing and how vulnerable Wiener was and she reeled him in like fish to bait. It’s also laughable when she says in her letter that she is putting it out there to help him. How does it help him? It only humiliates him. We know his excuse that he has a sickness. What is her excuse for being a despicable and disgusting person who preys on the week? We know he’s sick but she’s also sick to have done this to him. So manipulative on her part. She should be ashamed of herself.

Aside from personal gifts – he bought Allen the robe he had “always wanted” (which he returned because it itched, joking: “I guess Kate Upton was too expensive”) – Epstein offered to help with their daughter’s education, donating $15,000 to Hewitt school in New York and using his relationship with Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College in New York state.

A spokesperson for Botstein said the application had been accepted on its own merits and that Bard had already welcomed two other family members. “The only difference here is Epstein’s apparent effort to convince a family that his voice was of consequence,” the spokesperson said. Hewitt returned the donation after learning of the Epstein connection.

Last September, Allen was asked by the Sunday Times if he regretted his dinners at Epstein’s house. “Well, I’m a writer, so I don’t get put off,” he said. “Those dinners were fascinating and when it was all uncovered, it becomes interesting to a writer, because then you’re dealing with a kind of nefarious character on your doorstep.”

Asked if he had known Epstein was a convicted sex offender, he said: “He told us he’d been in jail and that he had been – I can’t remember the word – but that he’d been falsely put in jail in some way … We never, ever, saw Jeffrey with underage girls.”

Jes Staley: ‘I toast your courage!!!!’

Staley resigned as head of Barclays and was banned from the UK financial industry for misleading the City regulator over the depth of his relationship with Epstein.

He has denied knowing about Epstein’s criminal activities and claimed to have had a close professional association with Epstein but not a friendship. The Guardian has found that the two exchanged close to 4,000 emails starting in 2008, with many suggesting a close relationship.

From: Jes Staley
To: Jeffrey Epstein
Date: 11/1/2009 1:37:54 PM

So when all hell breaks lose, and the world is crumbling, I will come here, and be at peace.
Presently, I’m in the hot tub with a glass of white wine.
This is an amazing place. Truly amazing.
Next time, we’re here together.
I owe you much. And I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound.
Best
Jes

In July 2009, Staley emailed “I toast your courage!!!!” to Epstein after his release on house arrest. The frequent online correspondence also seems to refer to visits to Epstein’s properties, which involved Staley’s family members.

From: Jes Staley
To: Jeffrey Epstein
Date: Sunday. April 12, 2015 9:37:31 PM
Subject: Today

Thanks for the flight and thanks for the lunch. Your place is crazy, and special. It has a warmth and silliness that makes it yours.
I count u as a deep friend. The girls seemed to enjoy the sail.
All the best
Jes

Other members of Staley’s family were in touch with Epstein. Staley’s daughter, Alexa N Staley, exchanged emails with Epstein – appearing to act as a go-between for her father in at least one email in 2017.

Documents forming part of the Epstein files show Staley was named as a trustee of Epstein’s estate until at least May 2015, contradicting court testimony given by the banker last year.

The Guardian has also revealed that US prosecutors had reviewed allegations of rape and bodily harm against Staley. There is no evidence that prosecutors decided to pursue the allegations. Staley has denied any wrongdoing and has never been charged with a crime related to the allegations.

The wider network

As many emails appear multiple times across the files, the Guardian used a large language model to clean names and badly formatted dates, manually verified those results and de-duplicated when possible. However, due to the poor quality of some of the scanned documents, as well as inconsistent redactions, the analysis will have missed some emails.

Appearing in the Epstein files does not constitute evidence of wrongdoing. Most of the emails in the analysis were written after Epstein’s 2008 conviction, but this does not mean there was no correspondence or communication before then, as more documents are yet to be released and many of the documents have been redacted.

Epstein’s connections extended to politicians, royals, cultural figures and other high-profile people from the business and tech sectors.

Among frequent correspondents in the analysis are a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, Kathy Ruemmler, who resigned after her close relationship emerged, and Joi Ito, the former head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, who resigned in 2019 after allegations of his efforts to accept and cover up donations from Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein was first convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution and a new investigation into the financier was opened in 2018. He killed himself in prison while awaiting trial for sex trafficking in 2019.

The thousands of emails show how Epstein connected elites across finance, tech, politics and the arts world and was valued for his networking abilities.

As Summers put it in a 2017 email introducing Epstein to the editor of a scientific journal: “I know people who circulate among the powerful, among the wealthy and among the brilliant. Jeffrey does all three to a unique extent.”

Additional reporting by Seán Clarke, Oliver Holmes and Tom Richards.