Duke scientist Dan Ariely sought out Epstein (post sex conviction), got chummy and then began asking favors [View all]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/business/jeffrey-epstein-dan-ariely-dishonesty.html?unlocked_article_code=1.N1A.n6Lm.NXqpKfb6MBmK&smid=url-share

He Researched Dishonesty. He Got Friendly With Jeffrey Epstein.
Dan Ariely, a behavioral scientist at Duke, sought out the convicted sex offender for his research. Their yearslong correspondence suggests it wasn’t all business.


It was not every day that Jeffrey Epstein got an email like the one he received from Dan Ariely, a behavioral researcher at Duke University, in March of 2011.

“After we met for the first time,” Dr. Ariely wrote Mr. Epstein, “I started wondering what makes people forgive others. So I asked about 500 people how likely they are to forgive, befriend, hire people who were accused of different crimes.”

This was less than two years after Mr. Epstein’s release from prison on charges of solicitation and soliciting sex from a minor, and Dr. Ariely wanted to share his findings. “Crimes related to sex do worse than anything else (even murder),” he reported. “I realize that this is not good news for you, and I have no intentions to offend, but I am sending it to you in case you are interested.”

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In at least one case, he appeared to lean on Mr. Epstein as a go-between with a woman, asking if Mr. Epstein could “send me the name and email of the redhead that was here with you.” (Dr. Ariely has said that he found the woman intellectually interesting and cited her hair color “solely to help identify who I meant” and that he doesn’t recall meeting her again.)

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By 2017, Dr. Ariely was casually asking Mr. Epstein for travel advice. “This year in March I want to try a few different adventures” he wrote one morning in December. As examples, Dr. Ariely threw out the possibility of touring a Ferrari factory and driving a new model, or visiting a particle accelerator. “What adventure would you recommend?” he asked Mr. Epstein.

When Mr. Epstein responded to say he had arranged a private tour of a Ferrari factory, “at your date of choice,” Dr. Ariely was thrilled. “Seriously? This is just amazing,” he wrote.