Lisa Randall

Lisa Randall is a theoretical physicist and the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, where her research spans particle physics, cosmology, extra dimensions, and dark matter. She co-developed the Randall–Sundrum model, was the first tenured female theoretical physicist at Harvard, and received the J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics in 2019.

According to The Harvard Crimson, Randall’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein began in 2004 at a dinner hosted by literary agent John Brockman, and she attended a gravity conference in St. Thomas in 2006 that Epstein sponsored. The Crimson reported that she maintained contact with him for nearly a decade — including emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings in Cambridge — continuing years after his 2008 Florida conviction. The Boston Globe, reviewing the same Justice Department documents, described the exchanges as casual and friendly, quoting messages in which Randall asked “What does fun consist of? For you?” and joked “Wow haven’t you had enough house arrest?” about his legal situation. The Globe documented email dates including October 2009, June and July 2010, August 2010, November 2014, and 2017.

The Harvard Crimson reported that on November 30, 2014, Randall briefly visited Epstein’s Caribbean island, traveling there by boat from St. John around noon and departing by helicopter that afternoon, before flying on Epstein’s private jet from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Boston. According to the Crimson, fellow passengers on that flight included former MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and others. Asked about the contact, Randall stated, as quoted by The Boston Globe: “I am appalled by the crimes that were revealed and the terrible harm he caused his victims. I deeply regret maintaining contact.” The Globe noted she also said she never received research funding from him.

Is Lisa Randall in the Epstein files?

Yes. Newly released Justice Department documents reported by The Harvard Crimson and The Boston Globe show that Lisa Randall, the Harvard theoretical physicist, exchanged emails and phone calls with Jeffrey Epstein over a span of years after his 2008 conviction, briefly visited his Caribbean island on November 30, 2014, and flew on his private jet that day. Both outlets reported that she has not been accused of any wrongdoing, that she said she never received research funding from Epstein, and that she stated she deeply regrets maintaining contact. Being named in the files is not evidence of any crime or wrongdoing; people appear in these documents in many contexts, and the documented facts here describe correspondence and contact, not any allegation against Randall.

Documents

Primary-source records that reference Lisa Randall. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing; Randall has not been accused of any wrongdoing, said she never received research funding from Epstein, and stated she deeply regrets maintaining contact.

• DOJ Epstein Files (Epstein Files Transparency Act release) — The Justice Department’s release of investigative records includes email correspondence between Randall and Epstein spanning years after his 2008 conviction, and a flight manifest counting Randall as a passenger on the November 30, 2014 flight to Boston, as reported by The Harvard Crimson and The Boston Globe.