MIT Buddhist Chaplain Tenzin Priyadarshi corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein about donations in 2017
Priyadarshi planned to construct a retreat center for the Prajnopaya Institute using the funds
News Staff–The Tech
According to Epstein Library documents, MIT Buddhist Chaplain the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi and former Media Lab Director Joichi Ito corresponded with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 2015 to 2017 regarding donations to the Prajnopaya Institute, a Buddhist nonprofit organization. The nonprofit is related to Prajnopaya at MIT, a religious organization that holds Buddhist events and educational programs for the MIT community. According to a 990 form from 2017, the full name for the Prajnopaya Institute was “MIT Office of Religion Prajnopaya institute,” and its address was MIT’s official address at 77 Massachusetts Ave.
In 2017, Education Advance, a nonprofit funded primarily by Jeffrey Epstein, donated $50,000 to Prajnopaya for the proposed construction of a retreat center in Massachusetts. The 2020 Goodwin Procter report does not mention the donation or Priyadarshi’s meeting with Epstein in 2016.
Priyadarshi is the Founding Director of The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, a nonpartisan think tank that promotes dialogue about ethics. He is also the Founder and Director of the Prajnopaya Institute and Foundation.
Ito introduces Epstein to Priyadarshi
In an email sent in May 2015, Ito recommended Epstein to meet Priyadarshi. At the time, Priyadarshi served as Director of the Ethics Initiative, a Media Lab group active from 2015 to 2019 responsible for projects focused on ethics and wellbeing. The group’s work is now conducted under The Dalai Lama Center.
“We’re working on some cool things like a meeting about cognitive machines and man,” Ito wrote. “I think you’ll probably like him. He can get the Dalai Lama.” Epstein expressed interest in meeting Priyadarshi, replying, “Why not have different types of money for different groups.”
In March 2016, Epstein met Priyadarshi and Ito at the Media Lab. Shortly after the meeting, Epstein wrote to Ito about how he “really enjoyed Tenzin.” In response, Ito wrote, “We can now embark on your path to enlightenment.”
Epstein donates to Prajnopaya in 2017
Based on emails that Ito and Priyadarshi sent to Epstein in 2017, the purpose of the donation was to build a retreat center for Prajnopaya. In April 2017, Ito emailed Epstein that he planned to start looking at properties with Harvard professor Moshe Hoffman at the end of the month.
The same month, Ito messaged Prajnopaya’s bank account information to Epstein. He then emailed his personal accountant, Richard Kahn, telling him to donate $50,000 to Prajnopaya from Education Advance. The defunct STEM education nonprofit organization was founded by Svetlana “Lana” Pozhidaeva, a Russian model with ties to Epstein. According to 2017 federal statements for the J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, the foundation donated $55,000 to Education Advance under the category of “enhanced education.” Tax filing data from Propublica’s Nonprofit Explorer reveals that Education Advance’s total revenue in 2017 was $56,500, indicating that Epstein was the main contributor by far.
Ito expressed excitement about a potential location for the retreat center in an August 2017 email to Epstein, stating that he visited the place with Hoffman and wanted to build the center on the top of a hill. “It’s going to be a really beautiful building in a beautiful place if we sort this out,” Ito wrote. In a September 2017 email, Ito mentioned that the site was in Harvard, in Massachusetts.
In November 2017, Priyadarshi sent an attachment of properties to Ito, which then got forwarded to Epstein. Ito asked, ”What do you think about this Jeffrey? Is this something you’d be willing to fund?” Priyadarshi also sent an email to Epstein about a Zillow listing of a 7,250-square-foot house in Concord, Massachusetts. “So happy to look for other sites/properties once I get some of your preferences,” Priyadarshi wrote.
The $50,000 donation was spent on “legal and logistical costs” for the Harvard property. Ultimately, however, the property was not under further consideration because of “some added complications,” according to Priyadarshi.
Education Advance requests recognition
Given that Prajnopaya received a $50,000 donation, a representative from Education Advance asked Epstein in November 2017 if Prajnopaya could recognize the organization on their website or in a press release. The sender’s name and email address was redacted in the file.
According to an email sent by Education Advance in December 2017, Priyadarshi initially did not want to “publish a ‘thank you’ because the donation wasn’t big enough,” causing Epstein to reply with “???”.
Shortly after, however, Priyadarshi proposed to Education Advance that Prajnopaya would send a letter of gratitude and acknowledgement regarding the donation. He added that Education Advance’s logo could be added on Prajnopaya’s “supporters” page. In regards to a press release, Priyadarshi expressed reservations about writing one until Prajnopaya had “slightly more concrete ideas/plans” for the retreat center, as the organization had not finalized details for the project’s timeline and completion plans.
Epstein also agreed that Priyadarshi should not write a press release, calling it a “silly idea sorry.” Priyadarshi replied, saying, “Glad you think so :) I didn’t want to be the one to convey this to them ;).”
MIT responds to Priyadarshi in the Epstein files
In a statement to The Tech, MIT Buddhist Chaplain Linda Krause denied that Priyadarshi “solicited any funding from Epstein.” However, this contradicts the emails in the Epstein Library, which show records of communication between Priyadarshi and Epstein from 2016 to 2017. Krause stated that Prajnopaya returned the $50,000 donation in 2019 “in its entirety” after learning that Education Advance’s funds came from Epstein.
MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen stated that the Prajnopaya Institute is not an “MIT entity.” Although Priyadarshi is affiliated with the MIT Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life, Allen clarified that Priyadarshi is not an MIT employee.
As of time of publication, Priyadarshi did not respond to The Tech’s request for comment.