{"id":447960,"date":"2026-02-04T05:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/447960\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T05:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:48:07","slug":"doj-emails-connect-jeffrey-epstein-to-tom-pritzker-gensler-and-famous-architects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/447960\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ emails connect Jeffrey Epstein to Tom Pritzker, Gensler, and famous architects"},"content":{"rendered":"

New details have come to light about Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s ties with architects and architecture patrons\u2014namely Tom Pritzker, Gensler, Richard Meier, Frank Gehry, Neri Oxman, Peter Marino, Renzo Piano, Joi Ito, Philippe Van Den Broek, and Kevin Ouvre\u2014after the Department of Justice (DOJ) released<\/a> millions of Epstein\u2019s emails on January 30.<\/p>\n

What follows is a listing of architects that were named in the DOJ email cache with connections to Epstein. While many well-known architects appear, there are thousands of emails related to project procurement and design for Epstein\u2019s properties.<\/p>\n

Pritzker Connections<\/p>\n

Tom Pritzker is executive chair of Hyatt Hotels Corporation and president of the Pritzker Family Philanthropic Fund, the Hyatt Foundation\u2019s charitable wing which supports the Pritzker Architecture Prize.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Epstein was invited multiple times by Pritzker Architecture Prize employees to attend Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremonies since at least 2012, according to emails reviewed by AN. On April 10, 2012, Epstein emailed Hong Kong businessman Desmond Shum, writing: \u201cI will be in beigjing for the pritzker prize. Will you be there? [sic]\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emails between Pritzker and Epstein reveal how Pritzker\u2019s social life was relayed back to Epstein. On May 14, 2009, Pritzker emailed Epstein: \u201cStanding on the bridge with Renzo Piano talking kings and cabbages.\u201d Epstein replied the next day: \u201cCool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

An email dated June 6, 2011, reveals an exchange between Epstein and Pritzker when the latter was in the Middle East. \u201cI am in a remote valley in Afghanistan (its my birthday wish) with Boys with Toys,\u201d Pritzker told Epstein. \u201cSpent time with Patraeus yesterday and he loaned me a chopper (actually two with one as a back up). Can\u2019t call till tomorrow [sic].\u201d David Petraeus is a U.S. Army general and the former director of the CIA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other emails show contact between Pritzker, Epstein, and Frank Gehry. On September 20, 2012, Epstein emailed Pritzker: \u201cfrank gehry and I see eye to eye, he loves you, showed me pictures of your plane [sic]\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Epstein was invited to the Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony in Boston in 2013 but his assistant at the time, Jeannine Jeskewitz, denied the invitation on Epstein\u2019s behalf. Epstein was invited again to the Pritzker Architecture Prize on April 21, 2014, but Jeskewitz declined the invitation four days later on April 25, 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eunice Kim, Pritzker Architecture Prize director of communications, invited Epstein to an award ceremony on April 21, 2017, when RCR Arquitectes won the prize. A spokesperson for Epstein declined the invitation. AN emailed Kim for comment.<\/p>\n

Sexual allegations against Pritzker by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre were first made public in 2019 after three years of court depositions, as reported<\/a> by AN. \u201cHow many times have you had sex with Tom Pritzker?\u201d Giuffre\u2019s lawyer asked in a 2016 deposition. \u201cI believe I was with Tom once,\u201d Giuffre replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Giuffre said in 2016 she had sex with an \u201cowner of a large hotel chain\u201d in France. Giuffre also said she was \u201csent\u201d by Ghislaine Maxwell to perform the sex acts. Giuffre later took her own life in 2025. Pritzker has denied Giuffre\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n

Additional Connections<\/p>\n

Richard Kahn, an associate of Epstein, coordinated architecture projects on Little St. James Island on Epstein\u2019s behalf, emails show.<\/p>\n

There are over 1,000 search results for \u201cGensler\u201d in the DOJ\u2019s Epstein portal. Gensler invoiced Epstein for projects with titles that include Little St James \u2013 Flagpole Pool Concept<\/a>, Epstein Screening Room \u2013 CD<\/a>, Little St James \u2013 Main Residence \/ Pool Area<\/a>, and more. These fees amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and documents include drawings with Gensler\u2019s Santa Monica office in the title block. Warwick Wicksman, a Global Design Realization Leader and principal for Gensler, is one of the company\u2019s representatives who appears in the correspondence.<\/p>\n

This work for Epstein in part took place after he was convicted of sex trafficking charges<\/a> in Florida in 2008.\u00a0AN\u00a0has reached out to Gensler for comment.<\/p>\n

On November 19, 2014, John Brockman, an Epstein associate, invited Epstein to an event in Palo Alto, California, with Hans Ulrich Obrist and a \u201chot young artist\u201d Taryn Simon, in Brockman\u2019s words.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obrist had \u201cinvited Rem Koolhaas, who, unfortunately, is in Moscow December 7th, meeting with Putin,\u201d so Koolhaas couldn\u2019t attend. (Koolhaas later told Politico he had no regrets working for Putin<\/a>.) Kahn said in an email December 17, 2014, \u201cI have been going after Peter Marino\u201d for a project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In March 2017, Epstein met architect Philippe Van Den Broek and landscape architect Kevin Ouvre, according to emails, on the Caribbean island of Saint Barth\u00e9lemy. <\/p>\n

In October 2017, Wendell Burnette Architects, an Arizona firm, declined an invitation to work on \u201cJeffrey\u2019s island project.\u201d Thomas Hyland, representing the firm, stated that \u201cunfortunately, given our current commitments, we see no way we could take on a project of this magnitude in good conscience. Thus we would not want to take up any more or your time or Jeffrey\u2019s.\u201d The prior month, a redacted correspondent was interested in the office\u2019s response: \u201cDid we hear from Wendell Brunette Architect [sic] yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeking Legal Counsel<\/p>\n

An email dated April 8, 2018, shows Epstein talking about legal counsel with Pritzker in regard to Richard Meier, after Meier was accused of sexual misconduct by former employees earlier that year<\/a>. Epstein wrote to Pritzker: \u201cI assume your buddy richard meier has counsel. kathy ruemmmler has done 6 of these now for me [sic].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the same exchange on April 8, 2018, Pritzker said to Epstein: \u201cFlexible principles! It\u2019s what I love about lawyers and politicians. Don\u2019t really know Meier well enough, but I have another (noted) friend who was fired by his female client because he wouldn\u2019t sleep with her. Can KR help with that one? [sic]\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ruemmler, or \u201cKR,\u201d is today Chief Legal Officer at Goldman Sachs<\/a> and an advisor to the White House. Emails declassified by the DOJ show Ruemmler thanking \u201cUncle Jeffrey<\/a>\u201d for gifts from the disgraced financier in exchange for her legal services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MIT Matters<\/p>\n

Joi Ito attended a dinner with Epstein scheduled November 30, 2014. On November 16, 2015, an assistant to Epstein, Leslie Groff, invited Neri Oxman to dinner at Epstein\u2019s house with Woody Allen and Soon Yi. Oxman replied quickly: \u201cIt would be my pleasure\u201d that same day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On March 31, 2016, Groff emailed Oxman notifying her Epstein would be at the MIT Media Lab, and invited her to meet with him. Oxman was an associate professor of media arts and sciences at the MIT Media Lab until 2020<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On November 28, 2018, former MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito sent an email discussing a trip with Epstein. \u201cGreat! so all 3 will travel with Jeffrey on Sunday? I can make reservations for a car pick up for them on Sunday \u2026 I will get back to you,\u201d Ito said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ito had consistent communications with Epstein, as revealed in the latest batch of Epstein\u2019s emails. He stepped down in 2019 when it was revealed that Epstein had donated $850,000 to MIT between 2002 and 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. AN is reviewing materials and will update this story with additional information as needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New details have come to light about Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s ties with architects and architecture patrons\u2014namely Tom Pritzker, Gensler,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-447960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}