The Dalai Lama is denying any connection to Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement issued on Sunday (Feb. 8), his office said that saying attempts to associate the 90-year-old with the late pedophile are false.
“Some recent media reports and social media posts concerning the ‘Epstein files’ are attempting to link His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Jeffrey Epstein. We can unequivocally confirm that His Holiness has never met Jeffrey Epstein or authorised any meeting or interaction with him by anyone on His Holiness’s behalf.”
It was not immediately clear which reports were being referenced. However, the Dalai Lama’s name appears multiple times in the recently released files, mainly in relation to people with connections at MIT, including Joi Ito and The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi. The latter was the Founding Director of The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. In a 2015 email, Ito says to Epstein of Tenzin, “He can get [us] the Dalai Lama.” Ito apologized for his affiliation with Epstein back in 2019.
Some correspondence shows Epstein and his associates attempting to set up a dinner with His Holiness. A May 2015 email shows Epstein saying that he’s “working on the dalai lama for dinner,” while another one from around the same time has him writing: “fun dinner would be dali [sic] lama. woody allen chomsky? let’s do it.” Woody Allen’s wife Soon-Yi Previn was also on the hunt, writing to Epstein that same month, “i’m working on the dalai lama for dinner.”
There is no evidence that any dinner with His Holiness and Epstein ever actually occurred, despite these efforts.
The Dalai Lama’s denial followed the Trump administration's release of government investigation files related to Epstein, with the Justice Department releasing 3 million pages on Jan. 30. According to a letter obtained by USA Today, members of Congress are set to review unredacted records.
While the Dalai Lama's name appears in some documents, he has never been accused of wrongdoing.
The files reference dozens of prominent figures, including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Elon Musk, none of whom have been charged with any wrongdoing. Some of the connections were previously known, such as Trump and Epstein having been friendly decades ago before a falling out in the 2000s.
Last week, the Dalai Lama was in the news after winning a Grammy for the audiobook Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. However, the award quickly prompted criticism from China.
"We firmly oppose relevant parties using art awards as a tool for anti-China political manipulation, and this position is consistent and clear,” said Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian, per the BBC.
The Dalai Lama said of the award, "I receive this recognition with gratitude and humility. I don't see it as something personal, but as a recognition of our shared universal responsibility."