Harvard Donor May Face Accusations of Sexual Abuse

For billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein, charges of illicit sex practices just keep coming.

The New York businessman who donated $30 million to Harvard in 2003 for the creation of a mathematical biology and evolutionary dynamics program may face charges of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl who sought his help in becoming a model, ABC News reported late last week.

According to the complaint filed with the New York Supreme Court—and first posted on the Web site of The Smoking Gun, which requests government documents under the Freedom of Information Act and posts them online—Epstein “demanded oral sex” from Maximilia Cordero in 2000 in exchange for launching her modeling career.

Cordero explicitly stated her age to Epstein, who promptly “shut the door and requested that plaintiff give him a massage and suddenly removed all his clothes,” the complaint said.

Epstein allegedly commented on Cordero’s young age during their encounters over the next several months, even expressing his desire to take her to Thailand with him in order to “pick up other girls your age.”

Epstein is currently facing unrelated charges in Florida for reportedly soliciting underage girls to his Palm Beach mansion and paying them to engage in sexual acts with him and with each other in front of him.

Although several politicians who had received donations from Epstein returned the money after the charges came to light last year, Harvard announced that it would not return Epstein’s $30 million gift.

The Crimson reported in July 2006 that Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz had agreed to work in Epstein’s defense for the earlier charges, and the New York Post reported last month that Epstein is currently negotiating a guilty plea that would lead to a jail sentence of at least 15 months.

Dershowitz could not be reached for comment about the new allegations.

—NATHAN C. STRAUSS