Ohio State U gives $336,000 in Jeffrey Epstein donations to human trafficking initiative

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(JTA) — Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died last year in jail, donated some $336,000 to Ohio State University, a review found.

The university announced late last week that the donations and pledges from Epstein personally and from the J. Epstein Foundation were made to the Wexner Center for the Arts at least two decades ago “and many years before questions about Epstein surfaced,” the university said in a statement. “However, the university has determined that, in light of Epstein’s reprehensible crimes, retaining these gifts would not be consistent with the university’s values.”

Ohio State announced that it will contribute $336,000 from discretionary funds to the Ohio Attorney Generals Human Trafficking Initiative.

The review was conducted by the national accounting firm EY, which had full access to Ohio Sate giving records and related documentation.

Epstein was a billionaire who was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a teenage girl for prostitution. He was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges when he killed himself in jail.

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