The Ito Files, Part 3: How Joi Ito Secretly Funneled Money From Epstein's Network to MIT
In this post, I cross-reference government financial filings with the Epstein files.
"The slush fund, if it's at MIT, is easy. Will it be coming from Leon Black? How much?" [EFTA01927822]
When half a million arrived, "$500K came into my slush fund account. Thanks! Should I thank Leon Black?" [EFTA02584438]
That Leon Black.
From the contemporaneous journal of a woman who... knew him: "Walk down Madison Avenue to 71st St. My mother has lost her fucking mind. Even though Ghislane said it was best to take me home because Mr. Black is so important for some reason over my health. There is going to be hell to pay. I ruined their trip and I am dramatic when that fat fuck bit me! He threw me on the floor and blood all over Jeffreys carpet and I am the issue? Who the fuck bites someone? Sick! No one is that important and Leon can go fuck himself." [EFTA00155037]
The Wires
Southern Financial LLC. U.S. Virgin Islands. February 25, 2013. Sole owner: Jeffrey Epstein's Southern Trust Company. Stated purpose: "any lawful business." [EFTA01282465]
Never forget to emphasize that your business is lawful. That's completely normal.
Southern Financial wired $1,000,001 to Joi Ito personally. [EFTA01285003]
Southern Financial wired $1,000,000 to Ito's venture fund, Neoteny 3. [EFTA01285436]
Epstein's AmEx Centurion card paid for Ito's island flights — $2,202.75, American Airlines Business Class, Boston to St. Thomas, July 4th weekend 2013. [EFTA01189052]
Ito: "How does getting to Jeffrey's island work?" [EFTA02135772]
Answer: "We will purchase you a ticket to St Thomas. Jeffrey can have his helicopter pick you up. Be sure to take your passport." [EFTA02135772]
TD Ameritrade wire records show what flowed through Southern Financial: $4 million on May 12, 2014. $2.45 million on September 13, 2017 — originator listed as "SOUTHERN FINANCIAL LLC C/O HBRK ASSOCIATES, INC, 575 LEXINGTON AVENUE, 4TH FLOOR." [EFTA01268324]
The $5 Million
Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management. Epstein drafted the pledge letter:
"What should the letter from Leon Black say?" [EFTA02596966]
Ito:
"Making template. Is it for 5M?" [EFTA02597096]
Epstein:
"Binding pledge for 5M, 1M on signing, balance within a year." [EFTA02597828]
The signed pledge exists. Apollo headquarters letterhead, 445 Park Avenue. $5,000,000 Irrevocable Pledge. [EFTA02705182]
When MIT compliance asked whether to recognize Black's anonymous gift, Ito forwarded the question to Epstein:
"Assume no, right?" [EFTA02384617]
Why "assume no"?
Why was Ito always trying to hide where the money was coming from?
But four years later, MIT caught it.
Ito to Epstein: "We were able to keep the Leon Black money, but the $25K from your foundation is getting bounced by MIT back to ASU." [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_025598]
Epstein was specifically the problem. And Ito knew.
Epstein: "No problem. Trying to get more Black for you." [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_025598]
And that was February 2019. Four months before arrest.
Man. No wonder Ito was trying to hide the money.
Ito, this year: "Until the reports leading to his arrest, I did not know that Mr. Jeffrey Epstein had engaged in the malicious criminal acts."
The Fund
Ito asked Epstein for $15 million, matching Reid Hoffman's $15 million, for Ito's Neoteny 4 venture fund.
The word neoteny refers to having the appearance of a child.
"$15M from you to match? This would get me to the minimum 30M." [EFTA02521287]
Hoffman pitched Epstein directly:
"Joi says that you're on the fence around investing in the fund — worth scheduling a Skype call?" [EFTA02663427]
Epstein sold it to his network:
To Nicole Junkermann: "It is the cutting edge of tech, and the inside players." [EFTA02554502]
"Sultan would like to see the deck :)" [EFTA02534943]
After all of it, Epstein pitching sultans, Hoffman calling in favors, Ito begging for a $15 million match, SEC filings show Neoteny 4 raised $6.6 million from 4 investors. Target: $50 million. [sec_form_d]
When MIT compliance blocked an Epstein payment, the money rerouted through Andrew Farkas. Farkas wasn't a mere Harvard benefactor — he was a co-trustee of The Jeffrey E. Epstein 2012 Trust alongside Darren Indyke and Jes Staley. [EFTA01266359]
Epstein to Ito, May 2019: "I can have Andrew Farkas fund plant guys." [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_025606]
Epstein's own estate trustee as a pass-through funder for MIT. MIT kept flagging the funds.
So Ito used an intermediary to hide them. Two months before Epstein's arrest.
Ito, this year: "Until the reports leading to his arrest, I did not know that Mr. Jeffrey Epstein had engaged in the malicious criminal acts."
"Structures of Blockers"
None of this was accidental.
Barnaby Marsh, Epstein's philanthropic architect: "For Joi — first question is whether this is connected with MIT (overhead) or goes another route. The latter seems desirable." [EFTA01748254]
Epstein: "Do you think I need to route my support of Joscha through some blockers?" [EFTA02460631]
Ito: "Can you and I talk about structures of blockers?" [EFTA02460631]
Ito proposed concealment for Leon Black: "I saw you were on Leon's foundation. How about participating via a vehicle where you are a board member?" [EFTA01748705]
The C.O.U.Q. Foundation, one of two anonymous donation shells identified in MIT's internal investigation, has zero IRS filings of any kind. No 990. No exempt org record. A donation conduit with zero federal tax footprint. Registered near Epstein's Palm Beach residence. [FL SOS]
On July 8, 2019, two days after Epstein's arrest, Charles Schwab's Financial Crimes unit flagged: Jeffrey Epstein, Southern Trust Company, Southern Financial LLC, Richard Kahn. Accounts opened just three months earlier. [EFTA01265973]
That same month, HBRK Associates, Kahn's entity at 575 Lexington, received $5 million in wire transfers to its "LSJE" sub-account. [EFTA01596053]
LSJE. Little Saint James Epstein. Five million dollars flowing to the island account while its owner sat in a cell.
The men who controlled these entities, Kahn and Indyke, made coordinated maximum donations to Stacey Plaskett, the USVI Delegate to Congress. Three consecutive election cycles. Same dates. Same amounts. [fec_individual_contributions] Plaskett represents the jurisdiction where every Epstein entity is registered. She later sat on the House Judiciary Committee.
All of this is to say:
The entity that paid Ito $2 million was a subsidiary of the entity funding island operations.
Same infrastructure. Same people. Same addresses. Same political connections.
The Collapse
July 6, 2019: arrested. August 10: dead.
Ito's board departures:
His position at the MacArthur Foundation: "DIRECTOR UNTIL 9/7/2019" [irs_990_officers]
His position at the Knight Foundation: "TRUSTEE (PARTIAL YEAR)"
His position at the New York Times: last SEC filing July 29, 23 days after arrest
Plus, MIT Media Lab, Creative Commons, Technology Review, Japan Society, Code-To-Learn: all gone
While Ito sat on those boards, Knight Foundation and MacArthur Foundation sent $8.9 million to MIT.
After he resigned, the flow collapsed 84%.
Knight's grants to MIT dropped 95.9% — from $729,000 to $70,000. [irs_990_grants]
Gratitude America, Epstein's foundation, froze.
Assets locked at exactly $8,175,884 for three consecutive years.
$1 revenue. $0 expenses. $0 grants. [irs_990_returns]
Ito had lost everything in the aftermath. So he left the country. He left for Japan.
Today he is the president at the Chiba Institute of Technology. He says he never saw anything. He insists that when he spoke of "Japan/dogs" in the files, he was referencing his own pets.
His statement (https://t.co/fvTOI24JbS): "I never witnessed, or became aware of any evidence of, the horrific conduct."
He never saw anything. He was just helping to run -- and hide -- the money.
July 21, 2013, Epstein asked Ito: "how much of your daily conversation, attitude, posture in a social setting is really true, as opposed to laced with deception?"
Ito: "I feel like most of my daily conversation involves hiding or some sort of deception at some level because most of the people I interact with are part of an ecosystem where I am motivated to direct the conversation or the person I'm interacting with to a particular belief or action." [EFTA01756498]
When "most of your daily conversation involves hiding or some sort of deception", it's easy to jump ship to a president's post at a major Japanese university.
All you have to do is lie.
"When I talk to you, Reid and others... I'm much more clear." [EFTA01756498]
The Ito Files, Part 2: Japan
"Just checking in on Japan/dogs. (Yes, they've become sort of one thing in my brain.)" [EFTA01742579]
Joi Ito to Jeffrey Epstein, September 2013.
Joi Ito was not making a quip about his dogs to Jeffrey Epstein. That's not the kind of humor they engaged in. What did Ito mean when he said "Japan/dogs"?
One month earlier:
"Pretty flexible that week other than the board meeting... which for your geisha escapades and my dogs, I'd be willing to even skip. :-)" [EFTA02520304]
A Sony board member. Offering to skip his Sony board meeting. For Jeffrey Epstein's "geisha escapades" in Japan.
Three years later, he delivered. To Epstein's girlfriend Karyna Shuliak — cc Epstein, cc his own wife Mizuka:
"We'll arrange the 29th. Keep the evening free... You will be accompanied by geisha." [EFTA01742236]
The man Japan appointed Chief Digital Officer. The man advising the Cabinet Office. Arranging geisha evenings for a convicted sex offender.
The Visa Fraud
This didn't make the MIT investigation:
April 2015. Epstein planned a trip to Japan. Three young women needed visas. One Russian "fashion model." One Belarusian "student." One girlfriend.
Ito's MIT assistant Mika researched the requirements:
"Is there any company/organization to host Jeffrey and his assistants' visit to Japan? If not, Joi can ask one of Japanese companies he has founded or invested." [EFTA00349000]
What to call the women on the applications? Epstein's staff:
"All 3 girls are most definitely Jeffrey's executive assistants... they just have these other things going on as well (student, designer, model). For these purposes, will be much better to say they are executive assistants!" [EFTA00349207]
"For these purposes." Joi Ito lied on Japanese government visa applications.
Mika prepared the official documents — Letter of Guarantee, Letter of Reason for Invitation, List of Visa Applicants — and had Chiaki, an executive at Ito's Japanese company, sign and seal them. [EFTA00349145]
A Japanese company. Signing guarantees to the Japanese government. Vouching for a convicted sex offender's young women under fabricated job titles.
One of the women asked:
"I have a [second country] passport though, do they need to know?" [EFTA00349631]
Wife and Daughter on the Plane
November 2018. Seven months before arrest.
Epstein: "OK, you will fly with me."
Ito: "I'm flying up for a restaurant opening with my wife, Mizuka, and Kio, my daughter. If you are flying from NYC to Boston on Sunday, could we hitch a ride?" [EFTA02612725]
Wife and infant daughter. On Jeffrey Epstein's private jet. Tail number N212JE, Teterboro to Bedford. [EFTA02264657]
At the ranch, Epstein noted:
"Your kid is really cute. The girls could have stayed all day with her. Deception in plants is extremely sophisticated." [EFTA01042837]
The girls. Epstein's young female associates. Playing with Ito's infant daughter. Then: deception in plants.
Deception was one of Ito and Epstein's favorite topics. Ito admitted to using it constantly as a normal part of his job.
But was Epstein comparing Ito's daughter to a plant? Or "the girls"?
Epstein said stuff like this a lot. Ito remained friends.
The Phone
Forensics from Epstein's seized device. August 5, 2017. The messages interleaved:
1:14 PM — Epstein Skypes: "chaturbate" (pornographic webcam site)
1:31 PM — Someone to Epstein: "My pill is mercilon" (birth control)
1:36 PM — Epstein to Ito: "chat today?"
1:37 PM — Ito: "Yes"
1:37 PM — Epstein on Skype: "Can Valdson pick up and FedEx? Difficult to find in the States."
1:39 PM — Ito: "Where are you? I'm wrapping up a call. What # can I call you?" [EFTA01209900]
Porn. Birth control logistics for a young woman. The director of the MIT Media Lab.
Ito said he had a professional relationship with Epstein. For fundraising purposes.
Yeah right.
He was one of Epstein's top contacts: 256 text messages on the seized device. [EFTA01215149]
Still Going
January 2015. Epstein briefed Ito on the Virginia Roberts allegations:
"Bad press in full swing. She also claims to have dinner on my island with Clinton." [EFTA00867394]
Ito:
"Interesting... Heard Alan is not the type to give up." [EFTA00867394]
Alan Dershowitz. Ito was tracking the legal defense of a sex trafficking case.
March 2019:
Epstein: "Brutal press. Sorry. It seems I'm a symbol for all ills. I'm your boy." [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_025598]
Ito: "I'm good. Good luck!" [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029609]
When Reuters called MIT's press office, Ito didn't call the reporter back. He called Epstein:
"Can you have your web person take down any reference to the MIT Media Lab on your site. That would be very helpful." [EFTA02512094]
"Sorry to be a nag. MIT and Media Lab still on page at https://t.co/pNvLCNzhdB. Going to need to get back to journalist soon." [EFTA02512094]
MIT lab director Joy Ito asked a sex offender to scrub his website of any mention of the MIT Lab before returning a reporter's call.
He was doing all he could to cover his tracks.
May 2019. Sixty days before arrest:
Ito: "Can he give a gift to me at MIT?"
Epstein: "100-200." [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_025606]
Still fundraising. Through a man the FBI was about to arrest. After asking the man to scrub his website due to a sex trafficking case.
Today this man runs Chiba Institute of Technology.
Until March 2026, he advised the Japanese Cabinet Office.
Part 3: The Money is next.
[All EFTA citations refer to DOJ Epstein document production file keys.]
世界の皆さん
千葉工業大学の学長に居座る
伊藤穰一のファクトをまとめました(全19項目)
【画像は2026/4/5千葉工大入学式】
❶🆕千葉工業大学卒業式への不出席
入学式ビデオメッセージ対応(学生・保護者指摘)
❷🆕学長辞任・解任を求める署名活動を無視
(3万筆規模)
❸エプスタイン文書に「Joi Ito」名で約10,000回以上登場。
❹2017年8月24日に米国市民権宣誓式に参加した記録が確認され、(エプスタイン文書内のメールから)日本国籍法第11条(自己の志望により外国の国籍を取得した場合、日本国籍を自動的に喪失)により日本国籍を喪失していた可能性が指摘。デジタル庁・内閣府役職就任時の国籍確認の不備をめぐる疑惑が拡大。
❺エプスタイン氏からMITメディアラボへ約52.5万ドル、伊藤氏個人ファンドへ100万ドル超の資金提供。
❻寄付を匿名処理するよう指示した過去のメール存在。
❼エプスタイン氏を「ヴォルデモート」(名前を言ってはならない人)と呼んで隠蔽しようとした疑惑。
❽エプスタイン島(Little Saint James)訪問の可能性を示唆する文書記述(ヘリコプター移動計画など、複数回の訪問を示唆するメール)。
❾2013年、エプスタイン所有の**ゾロ・ランチ(Zorro Ranch、ニューメキシコ州)**で使用するソニー製プロジェクターの選定・設備手配を行ったメール存在。
ゾロ・ランチはエプスタインの性加害現場とされる場所の一つで、被害者証言や文書で性的虐待が行われたと指摘され、2026年にニューメキシコ州司法当局が違法活動に関する再捜査を開始。
❿2015年頃、エプスタイン氏の日本来日支援として、ビザ申請手続き・身元保証・スケジュール調整を実務担当(保証人:伊藤穰一、連絡窓口:田中美歌)。
田中美歌(Mika Tanaka、当時ロフトワーク/伊藤氏側近・秘書的役割)がエプスタイン側との具体的な連絡実務を担っていた文書記載。
⓫田中美歌の名前・写真が千葉工業大学変革センターサイトから2026年2月15日頃に削除された事実。
⓬2019年、MITメディアラボ所長・教授職を辞任。
⓭2026年2月27日、デジタルガレージ専務執行役員・取締役退任発表(理由非公表)。
⓮2026年3月末、デジタル庁「デジタル社会構想会議」委員を任期途中退任。
⓯2026年3月末、内閣府「グローバル・スタートアップ・キャンパス構想」ステアリングコミッティ委員を任期満了で再任せず。
⓰DEFCON(世界最大級ハッカー会議)で参加禁止処分
⓱2013年10月:伊藤穰一氏、エプスタイン宛メール(件名「Re: Halloween in Japan」)で「Make sure you are ready! It's funny and it has lots of sex.」(「必ず準備しておいて。面白いし、セックスの話がたくさん出てくる」または「セックスもたっぷりだ」と解釈される表現)を使用。
⓲2013年:ゾロ・ランチ訪問後、エプスタイン宛に「僕が牧場を出たとき、誰か遠吠えしてた?」とメール。エプスタインが「他の犬たち」と返信。「Japan/dogs」件名のメールも存在(人間を「dogs」隠語で呼んだと指摘)。
⓳2015年4月:伊藤穰一氏からエプスタイン氏へのメールで、ビットコインコア開発者(Gavin Andresen首席科学者、Wladimir van der Laanリード開発者、Cory Fields)をMIT Digital Currency Initiative(DCI)に招聘・雇用するため、エプスタインの「gift funds」を使用したことを報告。「これにより迅速に動け、このラウンドに勝った(big win for us)」と記述。MITでビットコインを管理・開発する人間を資金で取り込んだ疑惑。