MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito Told Epstein 'Hiring Hackers' for Candidate Dirt 'Is a Thing'

On July 2, 2016, while running the MIT Media Lab, Joi Ito emailed Jeffrey Epstein and copied LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Ito said he had been talking to someone named Vincenzo about email and data security, told Epstein to get him to "lock you down," and then wrote that "hiring hackers to try to get dirt on candidates" was "a thing" right now and that Epstein was "a pretty good target." [3]

The clearest reading of the page is defensive, not offensive. Ito appears to be warning Epstein that in the 2016 political climate, people were hiring hackers to dig up political dirt and that Epstein himself could be a target for that kind of attack. The email does not read like an instruction for Epstein to go hire hackers against someone else. [3] But the defensive reading is already significant: a sitting MIT Media Lab director was privately coaching a convicted sex offender on digital security and political risk, with LinkedIn's co-founder copied on the thread. [3]

The page does not prove that Ito hired hackers for Epstein, that Epstein acted on the advice, or that Hoffman endorsed the suggestion. What it does show is that by July 2016, Epstein was still receiving private, high-level guidance about how to protect himself in a world where political hacking was treated as normal. [3]

Two earlier emails from the same cluster extend the relationship back further. In February 2014, Ito emailed Epstein, copied Hoffman, and asked: "We're still going to your island right Jeff?" after mentioning a Friday session that ended at 1 p.m. [1] The page does not say what happened on the trip, but it does show Ito and Hoffman in direct island-travel coordination with Epstein years after his conviction. [1]

The August 13, 2015 email broadens the picture further. Epstein asked Ito what Bill Gates knew about money he "gave" and whether Epstein should thank him; the same chain says Gates should be invited to the island and taught to dive. [2] The page does not identify the amount, recipient, or purpose of the money. It does show Epstein treating Ito as someone he could consult about Gates and island access. [2]

Across the DOJ files, Joi Ito appears in 4,987 records, Reid Hoffman in 2,305, and Bill Gates in 2,226. [7][8][9]

The sequence: island coordination in 2014, Gates-related access in 2015, private security coaching in 2016. By 2019, Ito had to resign from the Media Lab after renewed scrutiny of the Lab's relationship with Epstein, and MIT's later fact-finding report said post-conviction Epstein gifts and visits tied to the Media Lab were driven by Ito or professor Seth Lloyd. [4][5] Hoffman separately told Axios that by taking part in fundraising activity where Epstein was present, he had helped repair Epstein's reputation and perpetuate injustice. [6] That is what the three pages together show: not one weird line, but a continuing post-conviction channel that later became publicly costly for both men. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]