LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman joked about ice cream ‘for – Business News
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman stayed at Jeffrey Epstein’s personal island and at his Upper East Side townhouse, despatched the lifeless pedophile ice cream “either for yourself or for ‘the girls,’” and as soon as hosted him at a dinner with Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, emails and paperwork show.
According to the trove of information lately launched by the Department of Justice, Hoffman stored involved with Epstein for years following the financier’s 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution — a relationship now drawing scrutiny because the billionaire enterprise capitalist has emerged as a main donor to the Democratic Party.
In one 2014 electronic mail introducing Epstein to a overseas diplomat, Hoffman, who had beforehand downplayed his ties to the disgraced financier, praised his judgment, in keeping with the paperwork, which have been earlier reported on by Bloomberg News.
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, maintained contact with Jeffrey Epstein for years after the financier’s 2008 conviction, in keeping with emails reviewed by Bloomberg News. Getty Images
“Jeffrey has exquisite taste in people (myself excepted),” Hoffman wrote.
The recipient of the e-mail, Hardeep Singh Puri, who served as India’s ambassador to the United Nations and is at present that nation’s oil minister, is dealing with calls to step down in mild of the Epstein revelations. Puri, who has denied any wrongdoing, was not instantly obtainable for remark.
Hoffman and MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito, who is alleged to have launched the tech mogul to Epstein, boarded a personal flight to Epstein’s island within the US Virgin Islands in November 2014, in keeping with emails reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Days later, Epstein paid for Hoffman to fly to New York, the place he spent the night time at Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse earlier than attending a breakfast the financier organized with Bill Gates and different high-profile visitors.
Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein cultivated ties with Silicon Valley figures together with Reid Hoffman, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, in keeping with newly reviewed emails. US Department of Justice/AFP through Getty Images
On Christmas Eve, Hoffman advised Epstein he had despatched two items — a surfer statue for the island and ice cream “either for yourself or for ‘the girls,’” in keeping with the report.
Gates, who met a number of instances with Epstein after his 2008 guilty plea, lately admitted to having affairs with two Russian ladies whereas married to then-wife Melinda French Gates, although the software program mogul denied doing something “illicit.”
After a assembly involving Hoffman, Epstein and Gates, Epstein even ordered matching sweatshirts embroidered with the lads’s initials and an American flag on the sleeve, Bloomberg reported.
In an early exchange arranging the introduction, Epstein requested Ito whether or not Hoffman had adopted up “on the jail” — a reference to his conviction.
“I talked to him about it and he got it,” Ito replied in an electronic mail reviewed by Bloomberg. “He doesn’t judge people.”
Epstein cultivated ties throughout Silicon Valley during the years after his 2008 conviction, forging relationships with a quantity of outstanding tech executives and traders.
Hoffman at one level hosted Epstein at a dinner attended by Zuckerberg, Musk and Thiel, in keeping with the Bloomberg report.
Jeffrey Epstein’s personal island within the US Virgin Islands, the place LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman visited in 2014, in keeping with emails reviewed by Bloomberg News. REUTERS
Epstein later boasted about the gathering in an August 2015 electronic mail, describing a dinner with Zuckerberg, Musk, Thiel and Hoffman as “wild.”
“[Meta CEO] Mark [Zuckerberg] met Epstein in passing one time at a dinner honoring scientists that was not organized by Epstein,” a Meta spokesperson advised The Post.
“Mark did not communicate with Epstein again following the dinner.”
After new allegations towards Epstein surfaced in 2015, Hoffman even provided to help the financier handle the fallout.
“Been giving a bit of thought to how I can help with recent press,” Hoffman wrote in an electronic mail reviewed by Bloomberg News, including he was “mostly looking for help on the on-line front.”
Epstein replied that there was “nothing to do during a storm, but hunker down, and wait until it blows over.”
Emails reviewed by Bloomberg additionally show Epstein advising Hoffman on a vary of personal and business issues — together with the enterprise capitalist’s curiosity in buying a personal aircraft.
Jeffrey Epstein as soon as described a dinner with Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman as “wild” in a 2015 electronic mail. US DOJ
Epstein additionally helped organize introductions for Hoffman with highly effective figures abroad, together with the British royal previously generally known as Prince Andrew.
According to the emails, Epstein coached Hoffman forward of a London lunch with the royal.
British police final month arrested the previous Prince Andrew — now generally known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after being stripped of his royal titles by King Charles III — on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace tied to his previous hyperlinks with Epstein.
The duke, who spent about 11 hours in custody earlier than being launched underneath investigation, has denied any wrongdoing by his legal professionals and has not been charged.
The Post has sought remark from Hoffman, Musk, Thiel, Ito and Gates.
