Leon Botstein

Leon Botstein is a conductor, music historian and college administrator who was president of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, from 1975 until June 30, 2026, and has been music director of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992. From 2011, three years after Jeffrey Epstein's Florida guilty plea, he pursued Epstein as a donor to Bard, visited his Manhattan townhouse about two dozen times and his Virgin Islands island once, and in 2016 received 150,000 dollars from Epstein's foundation Gratitude America, which he gave to the college. After the Justice Department's 2026 Epstein releases, Bard's trustees commissioned a review by WilmerHale, which concluded that nothing he did was illegal and that he had "minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein"; his retirement was announced the next day.¹²³⁴

Background

Botstein was born in Switzerland to Polish parents who had escaped Nazi persecution and came to the United States at the age of two. He graduated from the High School of Music and Art in New York at sixteen, studied history and philosophy at the University of Chicago, studied at Tanglewood in 1967 and went on to graduate school at Harvard University. At twenty-three he became president of the experimental Franconia College in New Hampshire, which Bard describes as making him "the youngest college president in history," and in 1975 he became president of Bard.¹⁵

At Bard he founded the Bard Music Festival and oversaw the building of the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center; he also founded Bard High School Early College in 2001, and Bard established, with the university of St. Petersburg, "the first liberal arts college for Russian students in Russia," Smolny College, and the Bard Prison Initiative. He was music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2011 and edits The Musical Quarterly.¹³ In 2024 the Carnegie Corporation of New York named him one of its Great Immigrants.⁵

Epstein as Donor

According to reporting cited by Representative Jamie Raskin in 2026, Epstein gave Bard 125,000 dollars in several donations in 2011 and 2012 and donated dozens of laptops to Bard's high school program in 2015, and his foundation's website listed Bard High School Early College among its grant recipients. Botstein had said that Epstein's only gifts to Bard were a 75,000 dollar gift and 66 laptops. The Wall Street Journal reported in April 2023 that he had scheduled dozens of meetings with Epstein, and he described the relationship as "sadism on his part" because Epstein kept "dangling philanthropic support" he would not commit.⁴⁶⁷ Raskin wrote that Botstein "also apparently knew that a 2014 donation to the college by apparent co-conspirator Leon Black was made at Mr. Epstein's behest"; Black has denied all wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.⁴

In December 2012 Botstein's office arranged his travel to Epstein's island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. On December 18, 2012 his assistant asked Epstein's office how he would reach "Mr. Epstein's house," and was told "it will be via boat," that he would need to leave "Jeffrey's island" about two hours and fifteen minutes before his flight home through San Juan, and that his passport copy had been forwarded to "Leon Black's office."⁸ On July 25, 2016 the president's executive assistant arranged a visit by Epstein to Bard on July 27 by helicopter for a matinee opera performance and an early dinner; Bard's head of security wrote, "We are excited and honored to welcome back Mr. Epstein," and said the landing would be coordinated with Epstein's pilot, Larry Visoski, and the local fire company, and Botstein, copied, replied "Excellent."⁹

Gratitude America and the 150,000 Dollars

On December 15, 2014 a correspondent sent Epstein's accountant Richard Kahn a contact card titled "President Leon Botstein.vcf" under the subject "Leon Botstein/Bard."¹⁰ In 2016 Gratitude America, Ltd., whose account was at Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, paid Botstein 37,500 dollars a quarter; a check dated August 1, 2016 bore the memo "Leon Botstein, Bard College ... 3rd Quarterly Payment of 4."¹¹ Bard said in May 2023 that Epstein had invited Botstein "to serve a one-year term on the Advisory Board as an expert in music," that Botstein received 150,000 dollars and gave all of it to Bard that year as part of a one million dollar gift. Botstein said, "I didn't benefit personally at all," "I have no idea why he concocted this scheme," and "He took pity on me, and he said, 'I'm gonna give you money and you do whatever you want with it.'" He said he had not mentioned the payments earlier because "the contract was signed by someone else" and he did not remember them until he looked into the matter.⁷¹² Deutsche Bank had been told in January 2016, when Epstein's accountant withdrew a request to open an account for the foundation, of "Mr. Epstein's resignation from Gratitude America."¹³

Admissions and Smolny

In January 2017 the daughter of Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn wrote to Botstein that Bard was her first choice, and on January 10 he replied that he would pass her sentiments "on to the admissions committee"; Previn forwarded the exchange to Epstein. On January 12, 2017 Allen's household wrote to Epstein by iMessage: "I can't thank you enough for getting [her] into Bard ... Thank you for coming through for us." Bard denied that Epstein had any role in the admission decision.⁴¹⁴

On March 26, 2018 Epstein wrote to the Bard president's address naming a Russian woman and saying he "would appreciate her going to see an advisor" to help her decide on Smolny. The reply from the president's address that day said she "should get in touch directly with me" and that her inquiry would then be passed to a Bard staff member. Epstein forwarded the exchange to another recipient with the note "he is the president of smolny."¹⁵ Raskin wrote in June 2026 that Epstein used Botstein's name with a European violin student who later "came to suffer traumatic abuse at the hands of Mr. Epstein," arranging for her to be seated with Botstein at a dinner and obtaining symphony tickets and a backstage meeting through him, and that in June 2019 Epstein again pressed a survivor to attend Smolny.⁴

The WilmerHale Review and Retirement

The Justice Department's releases under the Epstein Files Transparency Act named Botstein thousands of times, and in February 2026 Bard's trustees retained WilmerHale to review his communications with Epstein. Its summary to the independent trustees, dated April 30, 2026, reported that his contacts from 2012 to 2019 included 25 visits to the townhouse and a two-day visit to the island, that Epstein twice visited Bard and attended recitals and concerts "accompanied by multiple women who have since been identified as victims of Epstein," and that Botstein "did not try to further understand what Epstein had done or learn what it meant that Epstein was found in 2011 to be a New York State Level 3 Sex Offender." It quoted his rationale: "I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God's work." The summary concluded that nothing Botstein did in the relationship was illegal, and stated that he "minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein."⁴¹⁶¹⁷

On May 1, 2026 the executive committee of Bard's board announced that Botstein had "submitted his retirement, effective June 30, 2026," and that "Funds associated with Jeffrey Epstein will be directed to organizations that support survivors." Botstein wrote to the faculty: "After completing 51 years as the president of Bard, I am announcing that I will be retiring from the presidency at the end of this academic year." He remained on the faculty and on campus, and Jonathan Becker became acting president.²¹⁶¹⁷ On June 17, 2026 Raskin, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to board chair James Cox Chambers that the review was "too narrowly tailored," that its summary did not mention Smolny at all, and that Epstein's connections to Botstein and other Bard leaders "helped him maintain and expand his illegal activities"; he asked Bard to make Botstein available for a transcribed interview and to produce records on Epstein, Kahn, Darren Indyke, Black, Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein-linked entities including Gratitude America.⁴¹⁶ Botstein has not been charged with any offense.