“She described being in a room with Epstein in New York, and that his hands were on her,” the report said. It noted that “this alum said that on occasions when she and Epstein were crossing the road, he put his hand on her crotch.”
The report included additional claims by a third former Interlochen student who told investigators that Mr. Epstein had paid for her to fly to New York the summer after she graduated, and that she had given him a massage at his home and he “may have asked her to remove her top.” Her mother called Interlochen, her mother told investigators, to warn the school that Mr. Epstein was “preying on their students,” but they said no one from Interlochen had followed up.
In 2009, Interlochen renamed the Epstein lodge and removed a plaque that acknowledged his philanthropy. Mr. Epstein died in 2019. In June, Interlochen demolished the lodge as it continued to work to shed any connection to its former benefactor.
The episodes related in the investigators’ report occurred on and off campus, including in faculty houses. Interlochen is by no means the first private school to release a report detailing sexual abuse by its employees or others associated with the institution. Over the last decade, other schools — including Choate Rosemary Hall and the Hotchkiss School, both in Connecticut, St. George’s School in Rhode Island, and Phillips Exeter Academy and St. Paul’s School, both in New Hampshire — have published similar accounts, though none involving Mr. Epstein.
While Interlochen’s report did not make any formal findings about the school’s security protocols, it highlighted gaps that had, for example, allowed faculty and staff members to be alone with students while giving donors or trustees open access to the campus. None of the 47 adults referred to in the report are currently employed or affiliated with Interlochen, the school said.
The report noted instances in which the school took action at the time to fire employees when accusers came forward. It also listed new protocols Interlochen had put in place in recent years, such as enhanced reporting practices, improved background checks and 24/7 supervision of the campus. Some 240 cameras have been installed around its 1,200 acres.
