The latest tranche of documents from the Epstein files show Dr Lawrence Krauss, who later resigned as a professor at a United States university in the face of allegations of sexual misconduct, was in contact with then vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne and research and enterprise deputy vice-chancellor Prof Richard Blaikie in 2012.
Emails show astrophysicist Dr Krauss sought $US250,000 ($NZ416,274) from Epstein, already a convicted sex offender, to fund positions at the university for him and his colleague, and later wife, Dr Nancy Dahl-Tacconi, after Prof Hayne laid out the university’s "financial constraints".
When Dr Krauss told the university about the possible financial backing, the institution showed interest.
However, Dr Krauss only described the potential funder as a United States-based foundation and did not mention Epstein by name to the university, according to files released at the weekend.
Dr Krauss forwarded his proposal and the email exchange with the university to Epstein, who replied saying "I can’t get behind it".
Dr Krauss said it was a shame, as Epstein could have visited him while in Dunedin.
"I had hoped I could convince you it would be win-win — a great place to have a retreat once a year or so with a bunch of interesting people to explore interesting questions," Dr Krauss said.
"Figured I might even convince you that the strategic research programs that Nancy would foster there would also be worthwhile or at least worth the $250K or so investment from you on spec."
Prof Blaikie, who was included in the university emails, told the Otago Daily Times he vaguely recalled Dr Krauss as a science communicator, but noted the correspondence occurred more than 10 years ago.
He said he was not aware of where the funding was expected to come from.
"It’s a very long time ago. It looks like it’s quite peripheral to things that we weren’t aware of," Prof Blaikie said.
"Not surprising within however many millions of pages ... and connections in the forms of six degrees of separation, two degrees in New Zealand, that there might be some names come up here and there like that."
He said he did not recall how the matter resolved but, to the best of his knowledge, the couple were never employed by the university.
More than three million pages, 2000 videos and 180,000 images relating to Epstein were released by the US Justice Department on Friday (local time).
Inclusion in the files does not imply wrongdoing.
The email exchange starts with correspondence from Dr Dahl-Tacconi to Prof Blaikie in October 2012, inquiring, among other matters, about a new role at the university.
Prof Blaikie replied two days later, saying he was sorry but likely could not commit to the role as there was no funding.
The same day, Dr Krauss wrote to Prof Hayne, the late pro-vice-chancellor of science Keith Hunter and Prof Blaikie putting the case for the university hiring himself and Dr Dahl-Tacconi.
Prof Hayne responded saying recent funding decisions by the New Zealand government meant the university was not in a position to add new costs to its budget.
"I am very sorry to be the bearer of bad news on this front," she said.
"We would have loved to have both you and Nancy here with us at Otago."
The next day, Dr Krauss wrote to Prof Hayne saying the couple were devastated.
He proposed the roles be privately funded, and asked if the university would support the plan provided he could source funding.
He later asked if the university would provide "any level of match".
On October 25, Prof Hayne expressed "cautious optimism about an arrangement of this kind" although outstanding matters such as immigration and employment law still needed to be worked through.
She asked Dr Krauss to keep her posted "as the picture emerges", and signed it off "fingers crossed".
The same day, Dr Krauss emailed Epstein, saying he would "love to talk" after his discussions with the university.
"Was just with Cameron Diaz in my hotel room here in L.A. so there!" he added.
Dr Krauss appeared to not have received a reply and on November 4, sent another email titled "email silence" to Epstein, begging for an answer to his request to fund the roles.
"I have no idea what Nancy and I will do if this falls through, and what I will do," Dr Krauss said.
After Dr Krauss replied with dismay when Epstein declined to fund the roles there appears to have been no further communication between the two on the matter.
In 2018, BuzzFeed News published allegations of improper sexual conduct against Dr Krauss spanning a decade. Following an investigation, Arizona State University (ASU) found he had grabbed a woman's breast at a 2016 event.
The recent document release showed Epstein sent film-maker Woody Allen a link to an article covering the investigation’s findings in August, adding "fired".
Dr Krauss retired from his position as a professor at ASU in May 2019.
Earlier document releases show Dr Krauss reached out to Epstein for advice while facing the initial accusations.
Dr Krauss also joked about hosting a "men of the world conference" with other men, including Allen, who had been accused of sexual misconduct.
He has strenuously denied all allegations of misconduct, claiming on social media they were discredited, and he had retired with full benefits.
US deputy attorney-general Todd Blanche said Friday’s massive batch of documents marked the end of the Trump administration's planned releases under a law passed in November mandating the release of all Epstein investigative documents.
Dr Krauss did not respond to a request for comment.
