Former Head of NYC Public Schools' Name Appears on Jeffrey Epstein Schedules Multiple Times

Jeffrey Epstein, Joel Klein
Joel Klein (left) and Jeffrey Epstein (right) may have met three times (inset top) in 2013 at the registered sex offender's NYC townhouse (inset bottom)Getty Images

The meetings were all scheduled after Joel Klein - who was once rumored to be in the running for secretary of education under former President Barack Obama -stepped down as chancellor in 2011 to take an executive vice president post at News Corp.

The former chancellor of the New York City public school system may have met with Jeffrey Epstein multiple times according to copies of the registered sex offender's schedule, obtained by Inside Edition Digital.

Epstein scheduled three meetings with Joel Klein in 2013, five years after he pled guilty to soliciting a minor for sex.

The daily schedules Epstein received from his longtime assistant Lesley Groff list a possible meeting with Klein on Sept. 6, 2013 at 4 p.m. and a few weeks later a possible lunch with Klein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Sept. 20.

Klein's name also appears as the "guest" for "Dinner Birthday Party for Woody Allen" on Epstein's Dec. 5, 2013 schedule, which Inside Edition Digital obtained after filing a F.O.I.A. request.

Inside Edition Digital reached out to a rep for Klein multiple times but they did not respond to requests for comment.

Barak admitted to spending time with Epstein in a statement released after the mysterious moneyman's suicide, saying: "Like many respectable people in the US, in retrospect, I would have preferred never to have made contact with him. But from the moment things became clear, that contact was immediately severed."

The meetings between Epstein and Klein - who was once rumored to be in the running for secretary of education under former President Barack Obama -were scheduled to take place two years after Klein stepped down as chancellor in 2011 to take an executive vice president post at News Corp.  He currently serves as the senior advisor to the CEO of Oscar Health.

Klein first rose to prominence as White House deputy counsel and later assistant attorney general under former President Bill Clinton

Then, in August 2002, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Klein to be chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. That is the largest public school system in the country, serving more than a million students and over 1,600 schools.

Dozens of women allege that they were recruited by Epstein's associates at public schools in Florida and New York.  None of these victims allege that they were recruited from a public school in New York City during Klein's tenure, and Klein has never been accused of any wrongdoing. 

Jennifer Araoz said in a 2018 complaint filed against Epstein's estate that she was lured to his Upper East Side mansion a 9 East 71st Street by a female 'recruiter' whom she met outside her public high school in Manhattan.  

That complaint was dismissed after Araoz received a settlement from the victims' compensation fund set up by Epstein's estate after his death. 

In Florida, dozens of victims were recruited at public high schools according to a 2006 probable cause affidavit filed in the case against Epstein that ultimately resulted in his infamous non-prosecution agreement.

 

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