Jeffrey Epstein "facilitated" the construction of Harvard's Hillel building but did not contribute money to the project, the school's student newspaper is reporting.
The Harvard Crimson said the disgraced financier, whose death in jail has been ruled a suicide, served as the financial manager to Leslie Wexner, the lead donor on the project.
The building, which cost about $3.6 million, was completed in 1994. The newspaper reported in 2003 that Epstein's name appeared on a plaque as a donor of the building, alongside the names of Wexner and his wife.
But Hillel Executive director Rabbi Jonah Steinberg said Hillel replaced the plaque with one excluding Epstein's name "several years ago."
"Mr. Epstein facilitated a leading gift toward the construction of Harvard Hillel's building, and his name was associated with that gift at the time — however, that gift itself was donated by the Wexners," Steinberg wrote in an email to the newspaper.
"Given that, and in view of Mr. Wexner having severed connections with Mr. Epstein, we were glad to list only Leslie and Abigail Wexner as having donated the naming gift for Harvard Hillel’s building."
Epstein was arrested in July and pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls as young as 14. He died at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10.
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