Bard president Leon Botstein stepping down after inquiry into his Epstein ties [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Fri 1 May 2026 17.52 EDT
Last modified on Fri 1 May 2026 17.54 EDT


Leon Botstein has announced he is stepping down from the helm of Bard College, after an independent review of his contacts with Jeffrey Epstein found the college president’s frequent interactions with the convicted sex offender “could have alerted” him to the possibility that he and Bard would be facilitating Epstein’s abuse of women.

An investigation by the WilmerHale law firm, which had been commissioned by Bard’s board of trustees earlier this year to review Botstein’s interactions with Epstein, found the Bard president – who had previously claimed he was not friends with Epstein – made about 25 visits to Epstein’s townhouse, a two-day visit to Epstein’s Little St James Island, and that there were two visits by Epstein to Bard. These visits, WilmerHale reported, included “multiple women” who have since been identified as victims of Epstein.

Epstein and Botstein, who has not been charged with wrongdoing in connection with his relationship with the accused sex trafficker, were in contact from 2012 to 2019.

The WilmerHale review also suggested that Botstein had been warned by a senior faculty member that he should not engage with Epstein, who the president was courting as a donor to the college. The report by Wilmer Hale found that instead of heeding that apparent warning, Botstein relied on the view that “an ordinary sex offender” like Epstein could be presumed to be rehabilitated, since he had served time in prison. Botstein forcefully argued, Wilmer Hale said, that “Bard’s need for funds was paramount”. “His view was, ‘I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God’s work,’” the report stated.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/01/president-bard-college-resign-leon-botstein-jeffrey-epstein