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Senior staffer at MIT's Media Lab to resign over Epstein donation

Ethan Zuckerman, director of the lab's Center for Civic Media, says director Joi Ito failed to disclose the deceased financier's funding of the research center.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass.Dominick Reuter / MIT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A senior employee of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab says he plans to resign over revelations the lab took money from Jeffrey Epstein.

Ethan Zuckerman, director of the lab's Center for Civic Media, says director Joi Ito failed to disclose the deceased financier's funding of the research center as well as money Ito accepted for personal investments in tech.

Epstein was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges when he killed himself in his jail cell earlier this month. He had previously served time on solicitation charges. He gave MIT at least $200,0000.

The controversy surrounding his donations to the lab date to 2015.

The Boston Globe reports Ito publicly apologized last week for the lab's ties to Epstein.

He adds that he would raise the equivalent and donate it nonprofits that work with survivors of trafficking.