Leon Botstein Says He Didn't Write the Epstein Email Congress Attributes to Him. Here's What 409 Documents in Our Index Show, and What They Don't.
Leon Botstein says he didn't write it. When Rep. Jamie Raskin's letter to Bard College tied the former Bard president to a May 2014 email in the Epstein files, Botstein answered in a written statement to Inside Higher Ed: "The allegations in [Raskin's] letter are untrue, including an email that I did not author or send. Any assertion that I knew of or was involved in Epstein's criminal behavior is wrong." He added, "I am confident that any fair review would confirm these facts." That denial comes first in this post because it is the most important fact on the table, and nothing below contradicts it.
Here's what we did. DugganUSA keeps a searchable copy of the Justice Department's Epstein release at epstein.dugganusa.com. I ran his surname as a phrase and got back about 409 documents. I read through them, sorted them, dated them, and then went looking for the disputed email itself. This post is what the index shows, document by document, and just as plainly, what it doesn't show. Appearing in Epstein's records, whether that means a meeting, a phone call, a concert ticket or a check, is documented contact. It is not evidence of a crime, and nothing here should be read that way.
What was reported
On Wednesday, October 7, Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Bard's acting president and board chairman. According to Inside Higher Ed, the letter cites a May 15, 2014 email to Epstein that reads, in the outlet's bracketed version, "Is [Jane Doe] for me, or are you keeping her for yourself." Inside Higher Ed describes the woman as an aspiring young vocalist and cites the document as EFTA00989511 in Data Set 9. The Justice Department redacted the sender's address in the public file. Raskin's office says members of Congress viewed the unredacted version at the department, and that is the basis for the attribution. Raskin has asked the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate. The committee, per the same reporting, has been looking at Botstein's Epstein ties since June and has received separate whistleblower allegations, which Botstein also rejects.
The Telegraph framed the story as the first name to come out of a broader congressional push to identify people whose names were blacked out in the public release. I couldn't read the Telegraph piece directly, so that framing comes to you secondhand, through other outlets that cite it.
Botstein resigned his remaining Bard posts, including his professorship and his music roles, after the letter arrived. He had already stepped down as president at the end of June after 51 years, following an outside review by WilmerHale that Bard commissioned. As NPR and the AP reported in May, the review found he did nothing illegal but "made decisions in the course of that relationship that reflect on his leadership of Bard," and that he "minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein." He has said his dealings with Epstein were about raising money for the college. He hasn't been charged with anything, and none of the allegations in Raskin's letter have been tested in court.
The disputed email: what our copy shows
Our index does not hold a document numbered EFTA00989511. A search on that ID returns nothing. When I searched the quoted words instead, one document matched: EFTA01922992, in Data Set 10. The DOJ release carries the same email thread under more than one Bates number all the time, so this may be another copy of the message Raskin cited. I can't confirm that from our side. It's a text match, not an ID match.
Here's what EFTA01922992 literally shows. The outer message is a forward from Epstein's Gmail account, sent Thursday, 5/15/2014 at 12:33 PM. The forwarded message underneath has "From: President" and "To: Jeffrey E." with Epstein's address. No sender email address appears in our copy. The date line on the inner message is garbled in the scan. The word "Botstein" appears nowhere in the document, which is why our phrase search for his name never returned it. The body contains the line Inside Higher Ed quoted. Our scan shows a first name in the bracketed spot, and we are not printing it. Following the published reporting, she is Jane Doe here. After that line, the body asks Epstein for help and says the writer is only free on Saturday.
That is the whole of what the document shows about who wrote it: a display name, a missing address, and no signature. Raskin's office says the unredacted file identifies the sender. Botstein says he neither wrote nor sent it. Our copy can't settle that. All it can do is show you exactly what's on the page so you can read it yourself.
The 409: mostly calendars and assistants
The phrase search returns about 409 documents. The breakdown below comes from keyword rules, and I checked a sample by hand. The categories are approximate at the edges.
Scheduling and logistics, 262. This is the bulk of it. Epstein's assistants relay that Botstein's office is asking for a meeting, confirm a time, reschedule because a rehearsal ran long, or arrange concert tickets. The earliest dated document is from July 19, 2012: "Leon Botstein's office at Bard College is trying to set up a phone meeting with you" (EFTA01873841). On March 16, 2017, an email addressed to "President Leon Botstein" forwards a street-closure notice for the next day (EFTA02223183). On October 24, 2017, Epstein's assistant writes to Botstein's assistant that "10am tomorrow should be totally fine for Jeffrey" (EFTA02227552). On July 18, 2018, it's "Reconfirming Leon will come see Jeffrey today at 12:45pm" (EFTA02252852). The latest dated document, from September 26, 2018, confirms a 6 PM visit (EFTA02258007).
Calendar and schedule entries, 70. These are Epstein's own alerts and daily schedules: "5:00pm Appt w/Leon Botstein" on September 14, 2017 (EFTA02223171), a reminder that "Leon Botstein's concerts are Sat Oct. 21 and Sun. Oct. 22" at Bard's Fisher Center (EFTA02225727), and an October 20, 2017 schedule that lists "Leon Botstein's concert 8pm" at Bard College among the weekend's entries (EFTA02401266).
Direct correspondence, 56. These are messages between the two men, or between Epstein and Botstein's office. Most are short. On January 30, 2015, a message from Botstein's office account asks, "I lost track of when you will be in New York" (EFTA02511773), and Epstein answers with one word, "tues" (EFTA02511789). In 2016, messages invite Epstein to a dress rehearsal at Carnegie Hall (EFTA02467538) and a Bard matinee (EFTA02343932). Several 2013 messages are long letters about music and audiences.
Money and Bard matters, 12. These are the documents with the most in them, and I've quoted them closely in the next section.
Other, 9. A forwarded book delivery, notes on who would join a lunch, and a few documents too fragmentary to sort.
A caution about the counts: they're documents, not separate events. One email thread often shows up two or three times across Data Sets 9, 10 and 11, so the true number of distinct contacts is smaller than 409. Of the 409, 274 come from Data Set 11, 105 from Data Set 10, 28 from Data Set 9, and 2 from the House Oversight production.
Year by year
2012 (73 documents). It starts in July with Botstein's office seeking a call. By September his office and Epstein's are setting up meetings at Epstein's house. In December, Epstein's office handles travel for him. A December 17 email lists an early flight option through San Juan for Botstein on Saturday, December 22, and Epstein replies "first calss" (EFTA01914373). A December 19 American Express travel notice for "LEON BOTSTEIN" shows United flight 1482 from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, to Newark on December 22, 2012. In the same thread, Epstein's assistant writes that she told Botstein's office "he will be riding in Leon Black's plane" (EFTA01912225). The documents show the itinerary. They don't show what he did before the flight.
2013 (78). Scheduled visits and dinners, some long exchanges about music, and plans for Epstein to visit Bard.
2014 (32). Phone dates and visits. On June 4, Epstein asks for "a page on Bard, so he can give it to his team," and a reply from "President" attaches "Bard College 2014 Botstein.docx" with "Here is the page. Good luck." (EFTA02350054). The disputed May 15 email falls in this year but isn't counted here, because his name isn't in it.
2015 (78). The busiest year for direct messages: requests to meet when Epstein is in New York, calls, and a book Botstein sent.
2016 (35). Invitations to performances, and the start of the consulting payments described below.
2017 (75). Concert weekends at Bard, helicopter logistics for a visit Epstein later canceled, and the watch.
2018 (27). The watch debt, a February thread about a person whose name is redacted, and visits that run through September 26.
The money, quoted
These are the documents that reach beyond scheduling. I've quoted them as written and left out anything I'd have to guess at.
Gratitude America consulting, 2016. On January 31, 2017, Epstein's accountant wrote to Botstein's office: "We are currently preparing 1099's for Gratitude America, Ltd. in regards to your consulting agreement for 2016." On February 6, Botstein's office confirmed it had received the 1099 and asked "if there is an intention to renew President Botstein's contract for 2017" (EFTA02350806). A July 2016 email says Botstein had "received and cashed" checks dated February 1 and May 1, 2016, with the next one due August 1 (EFTA02301247). The scan is too garbled for us to give a reliable per-check amount, so we won't. For context, NPR and the AP reported that Epstein steered $150,000 to Botstein in 2016, and Botstein has said he donated that money to the college.
The watch, 2017 to 2018. On February 23, 2017, a message from "President" signed "Leon" forwards a Patek invoice from a Fifth Avenue gallery to Epstein: "Here is the information on the watch you are purchasing." Epstein's accountant then asks Epstein, "is watch for you or gift?" (EFTA02354105). On February 14, 2018, the accountant writes to Botstein: "your note for last February's watch purchase has come due please send cost of watch $51,615 or return watch." Botstein's reply in that thread: "I can begin to pay it off when a personal loan I have applied for comes through. Can I pay it off over time, and if so, how long. I can also return the watch to you." (EFTA02527046). On April 5, 2018, Botstein's office proposes a $10,000 check followed by eight quarterly installments, with checks payable to Jeffrey Epstein (EFTA02480657).
February 2018. Epstein writes to Botstein that a person "is a part of my foundation, we spoke about it, I d like her to see either aso or bard," and Botstein's reply in the thread begins, "I am not sure what you have in mind" (EFTA02532027). The person's name is redacted in the release. We don't identify redacted people, and we draw no conclusion from this thread beyond its text.
What the index doesn't show
The WilmerHale review reportedly documented contact from 2012 into 2019. The dated documents that name him in our index stop on September 26, 2018. That gap doesn't mean contact stopped. It means that, in our copy, the record goes quiet.
The index doesn't show what was said in person. Most of these documents arrange a meeting and stop when the meeting starts.
It also doesn't show who wrote the disputed email. Our copy has a display name, "President," and no address. Raskin's office says the unredacted file names the sender. Botstein says he didn't write it. Until the Justice Department releases the unredacted header, or someone who has seen it publishes it, that question stays open, and we're not going to fill the blank in for anyone.
Why we're publishing the document IDs
The game here is speed to truth, and the truth in this case is narrow. There's a denial, a congressional attribution based on a file most people can't see, and about 409 public documents that show a six-year relationship mostly run through two sets of assistants. Every claim above comes with an EFTA ID so you can check us. If we got a date or a category wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in place, with a note.
Read the documents yourself at epstein.dugganusa.com. Search for "Botstein," or search for a quoted phrase from the disputed email, and you'll get the same results we did.
Primary sources: Inside Higher Ed, October 7, 2026, on Raskin's letter and Botstein's statement; La Voce di New York, October 9, 2026, on his resignation; NPR and the Associated Press, May 2, 2026, on his retirement and the WilmerHale findings; the Justice Department's Epstein release as indexed at epstein.dugganusa.com (EFTA IDs cited inline).
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