Harvard Hillel Sought Donations From Epstein In 2010, 2011 After Conviction

Former Harvard Hillel leaders personally solicited donations from convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein in 2010 and 2011, according to emails released Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The newly disclosed correspondence shows that Hillel sought Epstein’s wealth and connections years after his criminal behavior was uncovered — including in May 2010, when Epstein remained under court-ordered probation with house-arrest conditions that lasted until August 2010.

The emails add to a growing paper trail linking Epstein to organizations and individuals connected to Harvard beyond the point at which the University said it cut financial ties.

In a May 2010 letter, then-Hillel president Bernie Steinberg thanked Epstein for his “support of Harvard Hillel and the Harvard Jewish community during this important moment in history” and asked him to help contribute toward the $25 million the organization was attempting to raise.

Emails also showed that Hillel leaders and fundraisers reached out to Epstein through one of his longtime assistants, Lesley Groff, seeking meetings and phone calls to discuss future donations.

Carl S. Sloane ’58, a Harvard Business School professor who served as chairman of the Harvard Hillel Foundation from 2010 to 2015, contacted Groff in 2011 to request a sit-down or phone conversation with Epstein about another contribution.

“Carl Sloane with Harvard Hillel is calling again re sitting down and speaking with you, or having a phone conversation...re a donation (which you have done in the past),” Groff wrote in an email to Epstein.

In the email, Groff wrote that Sloane, who died in 2015, had been encouraged by former Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean and two-time acting Harvard president Henry Rosovsky to get in touch.

Groff also wrote in April 2010 that another Hillel fundraiser, Eric C. Sinoway, had been “playing phone tag” with Epstein while attempting to raise funds for the organization. Days earlier, Groff wrote that Sinoway had offered to meet with Epstein in Palm Beach to discuss donations.

“Eric is based in NY...he said if after a phone conversation you would like to meet with him it is an easy trip to PB (no need to force a face to face when he is in Orlando next week),” Groff wrote.

Reached by phone, Sinoway said he did not recall contacting Epstein and declined to comment on the emails.

In a Sunday statement, Harvard Hillel executive director Jason B. Rubenstein ’04 acknowledged the group’s outreach to Epstein, but said that those involved in it had not been affiliated with Hillel “for over a decade.”

“We regret that anyone associated with our organization contacted Mr. Epstein during the years in question, and in the intervening years Harvard Hillel has revised our ethics standards to prohibit interactions of this nature,” he wrote.

Epstein’s ties to Hillel date back decades. In 1991, Epstein orchestrated a $2 million donation from Harvard megadonor Leslie H. Wexner for the construction of Hillel’s building. He later separately donated $50,000 at a fundraising dinner.

Many of the later communications in the 2010s were facilitated by Roskovsky. Rosovsky, who died in 2022, played a central role in Hillel’s expansion and helped oversee construction of its building, Rosovsky Hall.

The Friday files show that Rosovsky — who had said he first met Epstein in 1991 — was scheduled to meet with Epstein at least four times in Cambridge between 2011 and 2013. After an April 2012 meeting, Rosovsky emailed Epstein that a group of people he had assembled was “extremely interesting” and expressed hope their next session would be “a bit more one on one.”

In a DOJ interview transcript released in August 2025, Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, claimed that Rosovsky had received a “massage” at Epstein’s New York townhouse — language that federal prosecutors have said Epstein and Maxwell used to refer to sexual encounters with girls and young women.

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at sbc.23. Follow him on X @SebastianC4784.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.