By Staff Reporter |

A former professor from Arizona State University (ASU) and renowned atheist physicist was peppered throughout the latest drop of Epstein files.

Former ASU professor Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist and cosmologist, exchanged over 60 emails with Jeffrey Epstein. Among these emails were conversations between Krauss and Epstein strategizing Krauss’s response to sexual misconduct allegations. 

In December 2017, Krauss asked Epstein how to deal with questions from BuzzFeed News about the allegations.

Epstein advised Krauss to provide a defense to the allegations in a “short concise cover letter” to be published in its entirety, possibly with an attachment to Krauss’s website that would offer more details of his defense.

After BuzzFeed News published its investigative report on Krauss in February 2018, Krauss offered Epstein a play-by-play of the initial fallout. Krauss expressed hope that a greater news story would emerge to provide cover for him, such as an indictment of President Donald Trump. 

“I wonder if I will ever really recover,” said Krauss. “I wish they would indict Trump or something right now.” 

Epstein told Krauss to discredit his accusers by depicting them as irrational and opportunistic, and Krauss the rational renowned scientist.

“Concentrate on your point-by-point refutation,” said Epstein. “[An] article on women agreeing on seeing flyer saucers does not make the claim real. Break the charges into ludicrous, ogling, jokes, etc. Nancy [sic] language in her tweets. Stirred up emotion.” 

Krauss, who now lives in Canada, retired from ASU in 2019 after the university found merit in the sexual misconduct claims against him. Krauss was accused of grabbing a woman’s chest two years prior at an event.

In an October 2018 post announcing his retirement, Krauss claimed innocence of the charges. 

“To be clear, I have never harassed or assaulted anyone and have most certainly not exhibited gender discrimination in my professional dealings at the university or elsewhere,” said Krauss.

His defense did not persuade certain other leaders within the scientific community. Krauss was removed from the board of “Scientific American” over the allegations.

In years prior, Krauss sought to distance association between himself and Epstein. 

In a 2014 photo from an annual conference by his initiative at ASU, the Origins Project, Krauss can be seen smiling between Epstein and Harvard professor Steven Pinker. After Epstein’s arrest for child sex trafficking and suicide, Krauss claimed to social media skeptics that Epstein was just another donor that he’d happened to take a photo with, among others.

“Epstein was a Presidentially-approved donor to ASU Foundation, [and] his educational foundation was acknowledged at a named table,” said Krauss in an X comment in 2020. “I had photos taken standing by each table. Pinker & other scientists were randomly assigned to tables.”

However, Krauss knew Epstein more personally than he let on according to the trove of newly released Epstein files, in addition to his well-documented involvement with Epstein and prior statements to the media.

In 2011, Krauss defended Epstein following his imprisonment for 2008 charges of prostitution and prostitution with a minor. Epstein pleaded guilty to the charges; his plea deal of 13 months in prison with work-release later became controversial, as it protected him from federal charges with greater punishments. 

“If anything, the unfortunate period he suffered has caused him to really think about what he wants to do with his money and his time, and support knowledge,” said Krauss in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Jeffrey has surrounded himself with beautiful women and young women but they’re not as young as the ones that were claimed. As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I’ve never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people.” 

Krauss stated, also, that his relationship with Epstein enhanced his life.

“I don’t feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it,” said Krauss.

The Origins Project was an initiative headed by Krauss at ASU that sought to answer where life and the universe originated. Krauss joined ASU and launched the initiative several months after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008. 

Krauss holds atheistic views and has proclaimed himself an “antitheist”: one who opposes all theistic religions.

ASU transitioned the Origins Project into the Interplanetary Initiative following Krauss’s departure. Unlike Krauss’s program, the succeeding program focuses on building mankind’s future in space. 

Two years prior to joining ASU, Krauss organized a gravity-themed conference funded by one of Epstein’s foundations. That conference attended by the world’s leading physicists took place in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Notably, the conference had dinner on “Epstein’s Island.”

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