NYC Schools Chief Joel Klein Met With Epstein in 2013

Joel Klein, who served as chancellor of the New York City Department of Education from 2002 to 2011, met with Jeffrey Epstein at least six times over several months in 2013, according to scheduling records and correspondence obtained by the New York Times.¹ The encounters took place five years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for sex in Florida.

Klein, who oversaw the nation’s largest public school system with 1.1 million students, had left government to become executive vice president at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and CEO of its education technology division, Amplify.¹ Before leading NYC schools under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Klein served as White House deputy counsel and later U.S. assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division under President Bill Clinton.¹ He was once rumored to be in the running for secretary of education under President Barack Obama.

How the Meetings Began

Klein told the Times he connected with Epstein at the request of Mortimer Zuckerman, the media and real estate mogul who at the time owned the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report.¹ Documents show Epstein hosted a dinner party at his Manhattan townhouse where Klein and Zuckerman were among the guests. Subsequent breakfast and afternoon meetings followed.¹

In one exchange, Epstein invited Klein and his wife to a birthday party he was organizing for filmmaker Woody Allen, asking Klein for suggestions on guests who were “not ponderous.”¹ In preparation for another meeting, Epstein contacted a technology-industry figure about “edutainment games” before sitting down with Klein.¹

Epstein also introduced Klein to Joichi Ito, a venture capitalist and technologist who then led the MIT Media Lab. Klein subsequently wrote to Ito expressing interest in discussing Amplify’s work, saying he reached out because Ito was a “distinguished technologist.”¹ Ito resigned from MIT and from the board of the New York Times Company in September 2019 after reporting revealed his financial ties to Epstein.²

Klein’s Statement

Klein said he never met Epstein anywhere other than at the financier’s New York residence and that he had no further contact with Epstein after late 2013.¹ Amplify, now an independent company, said it had not known Klein met with Epstein during that period.¹

No victims have alleged they were recruited from a New York City public school during Klein’s tenure, and Klein has not been accused of wrongdoing.¹

Part of Broader File Review

The disclosure comes from the New York Times’ ongoing investigation into the 3.5 million pages, 180,000 images, and 2,000 videos released under the Epstein Transparency Act, signed Nov. 19, 2025.¹

That review has surfaced contacts between Epstein and figures across education, business, and government. Kathryn Ruemmler, former Obama White House counsel and Goldman Sachs general counsel, resigned after being named in the files.³ Multiple college presidents and professors have been identified in the documents, and Epstein used Nobel Prize access to cultivate his elite network, according to separate reporting.⁴

Klein’s meetings took place during a period when Epstein, a registered sex offender since 2008, continued to socialize with prominent figures in politics, academia, and finance. Consultants pitched Epstein’s access to New York Democrats in exchange for campaign donations during this same timeframe.⁵ Epstein died Aug. 10, 2019, at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in what officials ruled a suicide.

References

1. How Former NYC Schools Chief Joel Klein Became Friendly With Epstein - The New York Times
2. Ex-Head of NYC Public Schools’ Name on Jeffrey Epstein Schedules - Inside Edition
3. Goldman Sachs Top Lawyer Resigns After Named in Epstein Files
4. Epstein Used Nobel Prize Access to Lure Elite Network, Files Show
5. Consultants Pitched Epstein Access to NY Democrats for Donations