Barnard’s independent counsel ‘did not uncover any evidence’ of a relationship between College affiliates and Jeffrey Epstein

Barnard reported no “wrongdoing or activities at odds with Barnard’s mission and values” for any current affiliates mentioned in the Epstein files, including notable donors and trustees from the LeFrak, Blankfein, and Milstein families.

Photo by Haley Scull/The Barnard Bulletin

By Jaya Shankar, Karissa Song, and Kimberly Wing

February 27, 2026

Updated February 27 at 6:00 p.m.

Editor’s Note: This article mentions sensitive topics, including sexual assault. 

Barnard President Laura Rosenbury and Laura Blankfein (BC ’75), chair of Barnard’s Board of Trustees, announced that an independent review determined no College affiliates or representatives named in Epstein files “engaged in wrongdoing or activities at odds with Barnard’s mission and values.”

Earlier this month, The Barnard Bulletin found that the names of several notable donors to the College, including the LeFrak, Milstein, and Blankfein families, appear in the Epstein files, which contain communications between convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his affiliates. 

In 2010, Francine LeFrak invited Epstein “as her guest” to Rwanda and asked to join him for a holiday, and Laura Blankfein’s husband was invited to meet with Jeffrey Epstein. Both Blankfein and LeFrak currently serve on the College’s Board of Trustees. The Bulletin also found the names of several Barnard alumni in the Epstein files.

“The independent review did not uncover any evidence establishing a relationship between Barnard College and Epstein,” Blankfein and President Rosenbury wrote. “The files do include the names of several past and present trustees, faculty members, and alumnae, but nothing connects those names to the work of the College or to any illegal activities.”

Two weeks ago, the College hired Joon H. Kim,  former Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and current partner at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, to review Epstein’s connection to the College and its affiliates. In 2021, Kim investigated sexual harassment allegations against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, finding that Governor Cuomo sexually harassed multiple female employes and contributed to a “hostile” work environment.

In a previous statement to The Bulletin, a Barnard spokesperson confirmed that “Barnard has never accepted money from Jeffrey Epstein” and was “not aware of any connection to the College.”

President Rosenbury and Blankfein’s message restated this, adding that Kim’s review “also did not uncover any documents establishing direct communications between Epstein and any current trustee, officer, or faculty member of Barnard.”

“I find the communication from the Board and President [Laura Ann Rosenbury] regarding the outcome of their investigation to be narrow, legalistic, and evasive,” history professor Nara Milanich said in a statement to The Bulletin. “The substantive ethical question at hand is whether LeFrak in fact socialized with Epstein after he had been convicted of and was continuing to engage in sex trafficking of minors, and this response doesn’t address that urgent question.”

Professor Milanich is among the more than 70 Barnard faculty members who have signed an open letter calling on LeFrak to step down from the Board of Trustees and demanding that the College remove her name from public display on campus. LeFrak is the founder and president of the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation, which financed Barnard’s LeFrak Center for Well Being. 

“Issuing broad condemnation before establishing facts is not fair to our community or faithful to the values at the heart of Barnard’s educational mission,” wrote Blankfein and President Rosenbury. “We want to ensure our campus remains a home for productive, thoughtful conversations that embrace nuance.”

Blankfein and President Rosenbury concluded the email by stating, “Barnard remains firmly committed to women’s education, to the safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff, and to fostering a community where women are championed, supported, and believed.”

This article has been updated to include a statement from Professor Nara Milanich. This is a developing story.