Duke University Professor named in Epstein Files
According to various news outlets and the Department of Justice, as per the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Dan Ariely, a business administration professor at the Fuqua School of Business and a Duke University alumnus, has maintained a long-term association with Jeffrey Epstein for at least six years.
Ariely is mentioned 636 times in the over 3 million additional documents released on January 30. He was a notable professor at Duke during his interactions with Epstein.
The documents reveal that Ariely and Epstein met at least seven times between 2010 and 2016. Their relationship appeared to be friendly; in an email dated September 20, 2011, Ariely offered Epstein a ticket to a small TEDtalk event, even though the tickets were already sold out.
One significant exchange between Ariely and Epstein involved Ariely requesting the name and email of a “redhead” he had seemingly encountered through Epstein. Ariely described her as “very very smart” and expressed a desire to meet her again in the future. This email was sent in September 2012, following Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution.
The documents released outline Ariely’s friendship with Epstein within a six-year timeframe from 2010 to 2016, during which Epstein had a criminal history. The investigation into Epstein began in March 2005 after a 14-year-old girl reported being abused at his Florida mansion. He was arrested in 2006 and pleaded guilty in June 2008 to a state charge of soliciting prostitution and a charge involving a minor. He was released in July 2009. Epstein faced federal sex trafficking charges a decade later and was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 after one month in custody.
Ariely, who is 58 years old, was born in the United States and grew up in Israel. He is primarily recognized for his contributions to behavioral economics, especially in the areas of honesty, ethics, and irrational behavior, and he holds joint faculty positions in the psychiatry department and beyond.
