On Saturday, Joi Ito resigned from his position as director of the MIT Media Lab, according to an email sent to The New York Times.
“After giving the matter a great deal of thought over the past several days and weeks,” Ito wrote in the email, “I think that it is best that I resign as director of the media lab and as a professor and employee of the Institute, effective immediately.”
The resignation comes after mounting concern over Ito’s ties with Jeffrey Epstein, a serial rapist and billionaire who had been a significant donor to the lab and to MIT. Epstein donated as much as $800,000 to MIT-related projects over the years, including Ito’s own venture fund.
On August…