According to the documents, [Epstein]([[Jeffrey Epstein]]) arranged several meetings with Chomsky in 2015 and 2016, when he was teaching at MIT, where Epstein had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars. The scheduled meetings included a gatherings of academics as well as a flight with Epstein aboard his private jet to New York to have a dinner at his townhouse with film director [[Woody Allen]] and his wife, [[Soon-Yi Previn]]. When the _Journal_ asked Chomsky about the meetings, the 94-year-old replied in an email that his “first response is that it is none of your business. Or anyone’s. Second is that I knew him and we met occasionally.” Chomsky said he and Epstein discussed politics and academics, and “if there was a flight, which I doubt, it would have been from Boston to New York, 30 minutes. I’m unaware of the principle that requires that I inform you about an evening spent with a great artist.” “What was known about Jeffrey Epstein was that he had been convicted of a crime and had served his sentence,” Chomsky told the _Journal_. “According to U.S. laws and norms, that yields a clean slate.” He also said Epstein arranged for him to meet Barak so they could talk about “Israel’s policies with regard to Palestinian issues and the international arena.” A follow-up [report](https://www.wsj.com/articles/jeffrey-epstein-noam-chomsky-leon-botstein-bard-ce5beb9d?mod=hp_lead_pos1) from the _Journal_ showed that Chomsky received a transfer of around $270,000 from an account linked to Epstein in March 2018. “My late wife died 15 years ago after a long illness. We paid no attention to financial issues,” Chomsky explained by email. “We asked Epstein for advice. The simplest way seemed to be to transfer funds from one account in my name to another, by way of his office.” Source: [Who Are the Newly Revealed Jeffrey Epstein Associates?](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/05/who-are-the-newly-revealed-jeffrey-epstein-associates.html)