The University of Kentucky was named in Jeffrey Epstein’s emails, linked mainly through mentions by an associate with ties to the university.
More than 500 files named evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers, who corresponded with Epstein and invited him to his 2016 lecture at UK, according to emails and calendar entries released by the Department of Justice.
Trivers was never employed by UK, however, the university was mentioned in several discussions with Epstein as a potential option for employment.
UK’s spokesperson Jay Blanton said the university has no comment on the files.
The decade-long communications span from before 2009 to 2019, and were maintained during Epstein’s 2008 Florida sex crime charges and through the later lawsuits from victims. The email communication ceased shortly before Epstein’s 2019 imprisonment, according to records
The website was created due to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the release of unclassified records regarding the investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, according to the Department of Justice.
Listed on the DOJ’s website is a 2019 Federal Bureau of Investigation crisis intake report received on Nov. 10, 2019, naming Trivers. A witness called the FBI National Threat Operations to report Trivers’s personal relations with Epstein and the report details “speculation” of sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl by Trivers.
The witness was a follower of Triver’s scientific work and had been in email contact with him to arrange a lunch to discuss science. The two met at a redacted location on July 14-15, 2019. The witness reports witnessing Trivers sexually assault two victims on separate occasions.
No action has taken place against Trivers by the FBI regarding this report.
Reuters spoke with Trivers in 2015 about the influence of Epstein’s criminal charges on accepting grant money and his friendship with the accused United States financier. Trivers called Epstein a person of integrity and had already served his time, clearing his crimes. He mentioned his theory that girls now mature more quickly than in the past in defense of Epstein.
“By the time they’re 14 or 15, they’re like grown women were 60 years ago, so I don’t see these acts as so heinous,” Trivers said in an interview with Reuters.
According to an Associated Press timeline, Epstein pled guilty to two Florida state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
Trivers extended an invitation to Epstein for the lecture on Sept. 29, 2016, and the event was found marked as a reminder on Epstein’s personal Google Calendar, according to the files. However, Epstein was in Paris on the date of the lecture, according to a later itinerary for September 2016.
The lecture titled “The Evolution and Logic of Self-deception” was a part of a broader series hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences in September 2016, honoring Thomas Hunt Morgan, a UK alumnus and Lexington nobel laureate.
Trivers emailed Epstein Aug. 28, 2016, about the premise of his lecture, mentioning it would not involve honor killing, an issue widely discussed between the two in over 500 emails.
According to Britannica, an honor killing is the murder of a family member, most often female, driven by the claim they had brought dishonor upon the family name.
Trivers said he believed honor killing to be explained by evolutionary genealogy and by marriages between closely related individuals, sharing his theories with Epstein.
In a reply to the email chain, Epstein then wrote on Sept. 28, 2016, with “sounds like fun,” and followed up on the day of the event to wish “hope your lecture goes well.”
Trivers replied the next day with comments on how the lecture went and included his travel plans to coordinate a meeting with Epstein. Trivers mentioned his knowledge of human evolutionary genetics to Epstein saying, “and I will hit them (the university) tomorrow with human evolutionary genetics about which they know even less than self-deception.” It is unclear if Trivers remained on campus after his lecture.
Multiple emails preceding the lecture further include UK, as Triver repeatedly updated Epstein on his pursuit of a teaching position.
Trivers was suspended with pay from Rutgers University in 2014, according to an article from The Chronicle for Higher Education. The suspension followed Trivers admitting to knowing nothing about the class he taught on human aggression.
In a July 2015 email, he wrote about signing a non-disclosure agreement between him and the university regarding an undisclosed conflict, scheduling a time to talk with Epstein.
Other emails between Epstein and Trivers show Trivers frequent messaging, including asking Epstein for financial advice.
In a separate email chain, Trivers asked about Little Saint James Island, also known as “Epstein Island,” a private island previously owned by Epstein, according to Britannica.
Trivers also said he “would love to spend some time with you,” after thanking Epstein for his friendship during a period in which he says he was suicidal. Then, Trivers included that he made a “rank-ordered list” of who he would “kill first.” Following this confession, he lists UK as a job opportunity under consideration.
Hundreds of emails arrange phone calls, lunches and stays between the pair are reflected over the course of their 10-year relationship. Triver’s first stay in Epstein’s Florida residence was as early as 2010, according to the emails between Epstein and assistants in the files arranging transportation for Trivers.
In an email below, following a 2017 stay, Trivers thanks Epstein for the welcome as well as the $30,000 in grant money they discussed.
Epstein started funding Trivers’s Biosocial Research Foundation in 2011. Funds received from Epstein were shown to be allocated to Triver’s research pursuits. Found with Epstein’s documents was a 2016 proposal Trivers wrote that specifically outlined the research Epstein donated $30,000 to fund.
In a 2019 email, Trivers totals the grant amounts provided to be over $100,000 while thanking the financier for his loyalty to his research. In another email from 2018, Trivers said Epstein has supported him “most generously,” saying he has been an “enormous benefit” to Trivers.
The two’s conversations discuss their beliefs in the study of genetics with a focus on the influences on homosexuality and gender identity, the socio-genealogy of honour killings and the study of genetically linked athleticism, specifically in Jamaicans.
In one of the last communications before Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019, Epstein said he would only further fund Trivers if he focused on more specifically transgender biology research, believing his other areas of focus to be detrimental to the public interest of his scientific work.
In what would be one of the final communications before Epstein’s arrest and suicide in a federal jail in New York City, Trivers replied, claiming he is “getting to the end of ‘transexuality,’” adding that it’s been pleasurable researching and to “have your cake and eat it too.”
