(Bloomberg) -- Joichi Ito, the director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, resigned on Saturday after reports of his financial ties with Jeffrey Epstein, the New York Times reported, citing an email from Ito.
“After giving the matter a great deal of thought over the past several days and weeks, 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,” Ito wrote.
Ito also resigned from the New York Times Board of Directors effective immediately, the New York Times Company said in a statement.
The news comes after the New Yorker magazine reported Friday on Media Lab's efforts to hide its contact with Epstein.
M.I.T. President Rafael Reif wrote in a letter in August that the university was planning to examine about $800,000 of donations it received from Epstein entities. Epstein was found dead of an apparent suicide on Aug. 10 in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of the Manhattan Correctional Center.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Jose Valero in New York at mvalero3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Polina Noskova at pnoskova@bloomberg.net, Matthew G. Miller, Virginia Van Natta
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