In the Spotlight
Frank Bergman. May 4, 2023
From Slay News
Anti-Trump activist Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, has admitted to visiting deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious “Pedophile Island.”
Epstein’s private island, Little St. James in the U.S. Virgins Islands, has been cited by several victims as a key location where sex abuse took place.
The secluded location became known by locals and authorities as “Pedophile Island” due to the number of underage girls that were seen coming and going from there.
Victims have testified that Epstein and his powerful guests would abuse underage girls on the island, out of view of the authorities.
As Slay News reported earlier, new documents have emerged that show Hoffman, who reportedly boasts a net worth of $2 billion, met with Epstein after he was convicted and jailed for child sex abuse charges.
Documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal show plans for Hoffman, who has been funding writer E. Jean Carrol’s civil suit accusing President Donald Trump of rape, to visit “Pedophile Island.”
In recent days, the WSJ has reported on schedules and other notes showing Epstein making arrangements to meet all sorts of powerful people including now-CIA Director William Burns and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
The docs show Hoffman was scheduled to visit the island with former MIT Media Lab research center director Joi Ito twice in March and then November of 2014.
This was several years after Epstein was convicted of pedophilia in 2008.
According to the WSJ, Hoffman claimed he visited the island residence just once during a fundraising trip with Ito and cut off contact with Epstein in 2015.
“It gnaws at me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors,” Hoffman told the news outlet.
“While I relied on MIT’s endorsement, ultimately I made the mistake,” Hoffman added.
“I am sorry for my personal misjudgment.”
The Journal also disclosed other plans with Hoffman.
These records showed Epstein traveling with Hoffman and Ito from Palm Beach, Florida, to “Pedophile Island,” which Forbes reported on Wednesday was sold to billionaire investor Stephen Deckoff along with Epstein’s other island Great St. James for $60 million.
They traveled to the island for a weekend during the planned November 2014 visit before flying to Boston.
The documents also discussed Epstein making plans for Hoffman to stay at his Manhattan townhouse overnight in December 2014 and scheduling Hoffman to appear at a “breakfast party” with Epstein, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and others the next morning.
In 2008, after Epstein was accused of sexually abusing female minors in Florida, he reached a cushy deal with federal prosecutors.
He pleaded guilty to state-level prostitution charges and registered as a sex offender.
He served roughly 13 months in jail and in a work-release program.
Epstein was found dead in his New York City jail cell in August 2019 after being arrested on child sex trafficking charges.
A month after Epstein’s death, Hoffman acknowledged to Axios having interactions with Epstein and expressed regret for participating in MIT fundraising activity with Epstein present and by extension helping to “repair” Epstein’s “reputation and perpetuate injustice.”
Around the same time, Ito stepped down from his role at MIT after the New Yorker reported documents showing efforts to conceal hefty donations to its Media Lab and Ito pledged to return money Epstein put toward his investment funds.
In response to the new reporting, Ito told the Wall Street Journal that Hoffman “attended a few fundraising events at my request, including one trip to Little St. James, after I confirmed to Reid that Mr. Epstein had been an approved donor target for MIT in accordance with university rules and regulations.”
In November of last year, the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands announced Epstein’s estate agreed to pay more than $105 million to settle a civil lawsuit claiming he sought to conceal a sex trafficking operation at his island residence.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime companion, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty of conspiring with Epstein to traffic and sexually abuse underage girls.
She has since appealed the conviction.
None of the people Epstein and Maxwell trafficked girls to have ever been identified or charged.
