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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has disciplined Seth Lloyd, a professor of mechanical engineering, for accepting $285,000 from Jeffrey Epstein, including a personal gift of $60,000, and not reporting the gifts as he was required to do, The Boston Globe reported. (Some of the gifts did not violate MIT's rules, but others did.) As a punishment, MIT will limit Lloyd's pay and his role in undergraduate advising for five years. He will also be required to take "professional conduct training classes" before he resumes teaching. Lloyd has been on a paid leave since January, when the gifts became public. Epstein ended his own life in 2019 while awaiting a trial on sex abuse charges against him.
“These steps cannot undo the harm done. Professor Lloyd’s failure to share what he knew about Epstein’s conviction when he accepted his 2012 donations was unacceptable,” MIT provost Martin A. Schmidt said in the email to the campus. “I recognize that many in our community remain deeply disturbed by the interactions with Jeffrey Epstein and that some will be disappointed by this decision.”
In a statement, Lloyd said, “With 2020 hindsight I should have sought further consultation at the time over Epstein’s appropriateness as a donor and communicated his past conviction. I will always regret the pain that the involvement with Epstein has caused his victims and members of the MIT community.”
