Epstein Data Wiki

Noam Chomsky

Properties2
tagsperson, academia, mit, university-of-arizona, linguistics, science-philanthropy
aliasesAvram Noam Chomsky, Chomsky, Noam, Chomsky, Avram Noam

17 min read

BornDecember 7, 19281
PositionsFaculty, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 1955; Institute Professor emeritus, MIT; Laureate Professor, University of Arizona, from 20171
Introduced to EpsteinBy Lawrence Krauss, March 20122
Contact in the released filesCorrespondence, meetings and travel documented from March 2012 into 201923
Payment$20,000 from Epstein’s foundation Gratitude America, Ltd., check dated March 2, 20174
StatementTold the Wall Street Journal in 2023 that “I knew him and we met occasionally”5

Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher and political writer, Institute Professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, since 2017, Laureate Professor at the University of Arizona.1 The Epstein files record contact between Chomsky and Jeffrey Epstein from March 2012, three and a half years after Epstein’s 2008 Florida guilty plea, into 2019.23 Epstein’s staff arranged meetings, flights and ground transport for him; Epstein’s charitable foundation drew him a $20,000 cheque in March 2017 under a proposed consulting arrangement; Epstein and his accountant became involved in Chomsky’s private financial and legal affairs from 2017; and in February 2019 Chomsky advised Epstein on how to handle press coverage of the sex-trafficking allegations against him.6478 Chomsky told the Wall Street Journal in 2023, before those documents were public, that his relationship with Epstein was “none of your business. Or anyone’s,” and that “I knew him and we met occasionally.”5 No allegation of wrongdoing by Chomsky appears in the documents cited on this page.

Introduction, 2012

The introduction was made by the physicist Lawrence Krauss. On March 30, 2012 Krauss wrote to Chomsky, “You didn’t answer about meeting Epstein”; Chomsky replied the same evening, “Just suggest to him to write to me. It’s a Sunday, I think, so it won’t be when I’m at work.” Krauss forwarded the exchange to Epstein and his assistant Lesley Groff the next day: “You are in.. he will meet with you.. you of course owe me big time now..”2 The meeting was set for Sunday, April 15, 2012, on a Cambridge day in Epstein’s schedule that also listed Larry Summers, Martin Nowak and other academics; a follow-up list attached to the same schedule carried the open question “Can Lawrence Krauss help facilitate a meeting w/Noam Chomsky?”910 On April 9 Groff asked Epstein whether he had yet written to Chomsky about the visit.2

Meetings, travel and hospitality, 2015–2016

In January 2015 Krauss set out to Epstein the arrangements for what the correspondence called “the dialogue” with Chomsky in Phoenix, where Chomsky would check into a hotel beforehand, forwarding his exchange with Chomsky and writing that after the event “I am assuming you will leave with Jeffrey in his jet to Boston.” Epstein replied, “whatever he wants its that smple.”1112 Epstein’s schedule for March 23, 2015 records a departure from Phoenix, arrival at Boston Logan, and “8:00pm Dinner w/Martin Nowak, Noam Chomsky, Joscha Bach, George Church” at a Cambridge hotel; the schedule does not record who attended.13 Krauss asked Epstein for a debrief that afternoon “On event and your discussions with Noam.”14

In May 2015 Epstein’s office organised a two-day visit to New York. Epstein set out the plan himself: “i will fly to cambridge 7 30 wheels up wed, pick up chomskdy, invite him to come by martin instittue … jet suite back for him at 4, car service on other end.”6 Groff told Epstein’s pilot on May 15 that Epstein would be bringing Chomsky back to New York from Bedford the following Wednesday, and that she thought the pilot had flown him before.15 Epstein’s accountant Richard Kahn booked the return leg with the charter operator JetSuite, asking on May 20 that the lead passenger name be changed “to read: Chomsky, Avram Noam” for a Teterboro–Bedford flight the following day.16 Epstein’s schedule for May 21 records a 12:30 pm lunch at his house, a 3 pm departure for Teterboro with his driver, and the 4 pm charter.176 On May 24 Epstein wrote to a correspondent, “I spent the weekend with chomsk at my house. great. , strong views but clever.”18

On July 15, 2015 Epstein asked, “the chomsky questions.? any headway„”, and Chomsky answered with a note on the difference between mathematical proof and empirical theory.19 In September 2015 Groff proposed a meeting between Epstein, the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and “possibly Noam Chomsky” at the Cambridge address Groff described as “Jeffrey’s office at Harvard”; Barak’s office replied that his travel had changed, and the documents cited here do not record whether the meeting took place.20

Epstein’s schedule for February 5, 2016 has him flying from New York to Bedford, spending the day at Nowak’s institute in Cambridge, and going on to a 7 pm dinner at Chomsky’s Cambridge apartment before departing for Paris at 10 pm.2122 On April 16, 2016 Epstein asked whether Chomsky was free on the 24th or 25th because “we can organize wolfram , he is clever”; Chomsky replied, “Very much interesting in meeting with Wolfram, but April is impossible. Constant travel and talks. How about May? Meanwhile, we gorging on Deli …”, a reference to a food delivery Epstein had sent.23 Two weeks later he wrote, “Just picking up mail. Sorry to have missed you. At work all day.”24

After a meeting on July 9, 2016 Epstein wrote, “Enjoyed today ax always . Come to new York or Caribbean ? Enjoy the food.” Chomsky answered: “Just got home and opened the Care packages. What a treasure … I’m really fantasizing about the Caribbean island. Have to figure out a way to work clear of endless commitments.”25 The following day Epstein wrote to a correspondent, “you have not made much use of your new york apartment. its yours for the asking.”26 Epstein’s schedule for August 6, 2016 records “11:30am Martin and Joi” and a 3 pm meeting with “Noam Chomsky and Stephen Wolfram”; a separate note from Epstein describes the same day as “wheels up bedford martin and joi, then chomsky at 3.” On August 18 Epstein’s assistant asked Wolfram’s office for an address to which Epstein could send “some pictures of the meeting they recently had with Noam Chomsky.”272829 A week-long stay in one of Epstein’s New York apartments was arranged for early September 2016 and called off on August 30.3031

Gratitude America payment, 2017

On February 26, 2017 Epstein instructed Kahn, “30k from foundation to Chomsky.” Kahn asked him the next day to “please confirm 30k to Noam Chomsky is consulting from Gratitude and the expertise for consulting agreement darren will draft,” and Epstein revised the figure and the description: “20 k from foundation for adminstereing the chomsky challenge in linguistics.”3233 On February 28 Darren Indyke wrote to Kahn and Epstein that he had “provided the proposed description of services” for Chomsky’s “service as a consultant to GA in exchange for $20K,” adding, as his own stated assumption, that Chomsky “will be serving as a member of the advisory board” of Gratitude America, Ltd., Epstein’s Virgin Islands charity, with a duty to “formulate and administer” a program of “not less than ten (10) scientific challenges” in artificial-intelligence language and artificial linguistics. Indyke asked Kahn to “advise if the description of services … is acceptable for Dr. Chomsky and I will forward the agreement to Rich to have signed”; no agreement had yet been sent.33 Kahn wrote to Chomsky the same morning about “a payment from his foundation gratitude america in the amount of 20,000 for administering the chomsky challenge in linguistics,” and Chomsky replied that he was passing the matter to his household.34 On March 2 Kahn asked Epstein whether to “send check or wait until agreement is finalized”; a Gratitude America check for $20,000 payable to Noam Chomsky, drawn on Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas and preserved in a bank’s production of records, is dated the same day.334 The documents cited here do not show whether the consulting agreement was ever signed.

The “Chomsky Challenge” was a prize scheme Epstein was drafting in September 2015 in correspondence with Joscha Bach and Robert Berwick, framed as a series of tasks for a machine to learn and discriminate language.35 In August 2016 Epstein told Nowak, “I want to fund the chomsky challenge and a Novak … challenge.”36

Epstein’s role in Chomsky’s private affairs, 2017–2019

From late 2017 Epstein and Kahn became involved in a dispute between Chomsky and the trustee of a family trust. Chomsky sent Epstein drafts of his letters to the trustee and asked what he thought of them; Epstein advised him on tactics and, in July 2018, supplied wording of his own: “i await your reply and am quite ashamed of your behavior. please provide me a list of your executive commitee. as I will be forwarding each a letter,” which Chomsky declined: “This seems to me too harsh, at least for my style.”737 Kahn was brought into Chomsky’s dealings with his own Boston counsel; in October 2018 Chomsky wrote to that lawyer, copying Kahn, that they had confidence in Kahn’s advice and that the lawyer should proceed as he had suggested. Kahn forwarded the exchange to Epstein.38 In March 2018 Chomsky credited Kahn’s inquiries with uncovering errors that produced a payment to him from a financial firm.39

On November 6, 2017 Epstein wrote to Krauss that he had “spoke to noam,” that Chomsky would like Krauss to be the trustee of his trust, and that “he trusts you, … I woudl do it , but my press is too ugly … he would be very appreciative if you said yes.” The proposal is recorded only as Epstein’s account of what Chomsky wanted; no message from Chomsky making the request appears in the documents cited here, and no reply from Krauss appears in this document.40

In February 2018 Epstein wrote “Noam Chomsky’s avviuts” in a message thread with a correspondent who offered investment help; Epstein corrected himself six seconds later in a separate message, “Accounts,” and told the correspondent to “Call Rich Kahn tomorrow.” The correspondent, whose name is redacted, replied over the following months that their firm was “in touch with Rich and reviewed his portfolios” and, in June 2018, that they had “not heard back from Noam.”41

Advice on Epstein’s press, 2018–2019

On December 29, 2018 Epstein sent Chomsky a draft opinion piece written in his defence by his lawyers, saying he was “considering submitting this to the oped of the wash post” and asking for his thoughts.42 On February 23, 2019, as the Miami Herald’s reporting on the 2008 plea agreement was running, Epstein asked Chomsky for advice on his “putrid press,” which he said “is spiraling out of control,” and put the question: “do I have someone write an oped. ? defend myself . or try to ignore. realizing that mobs are dangerous.”3 Chomsky replied the same day, and Epstein forwarded the reply within hours to his public-relations adviser Matthew Hiltzik under the subject “Thoughts from Chomsky.”43 It said that “the best way to proceed is to ignore it,” that “What the vultures dearly want is a public response, which then provides a public opening for an onslaught of venomous attacks, many from just publicity seekers or cranks of all sorts — which are impossible to answer (how do you prove that you are not a neo-Nazi who wants to kill the Jews, or a rapist, or whatever charge comes along?),” and that this was “particularly true now with the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women, which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder.” Hiltzik answered Epstein, “I think that is wise.”844

Letter of support

An undated letter over Chomsky’s name and titles, headed “To whom it may concern:” describes Epstein as a source of insight into “the intricacies of the global financial system” and into the finances of Saudi Arabia, recounts that Epstein telephoned “the Norwegian diplomat who supervised” the Oslo accords during a conversation about them and arranged a meeting with Barak, and concludes: “He quickly became a highly valued friend and regular source of intellectual exchange and stimulation.”45 It opens, “I met Jeffrey Epstein half a dozen years ago.” The corpus copy carries no date, addressee or covering message, and it is not established from these documents whether it was sent to anyone.45

The Bannon film project, 2018–2019

Between May 2018 and June 2019 Epstein exchanged iMessages with Steve Bannon about filming Chomsky. The thread survives as a device extraction; the page images were rendered to establish which side sent each message, and the messages below are Epstein’s own except where attributed to Bannon.

DateMessageSource
May 12, 2018Epstein to Bannon: “Or if you like Chomsky and I having another dinner tonight just us two.”46
Sept 8, 2018Epstein: “Btw Chomsky invited u to Arizona”47
Sept 21, 2018Epstein: “Chomsky called me with Lula . From prison . What a world”48
Dec 6, 2018Epstein: “Spoke to Chomsky, he’s all in”49
Dec 28, 2018Epstein: “Chomsky ready”; Bannon: “Chomsky ready to be filmed?”; Epstein: “yup”50
Dec 29, 2018Epstein: “Chomsky asked format and location, his house, office or…”51
Feb 9, 2019Bannon: “I’m in Tucson — can Chomsky meet tomorrow afternoon???”; Epstein: “Great. , ill check.”52
May 3, 2019Epstein: “I am going to arizzona on the 12 th to see Chomsky. . any interest”; Bannon: “My team will fly out to film you and Noam”53
June 23, 2019Bannon: “If we are doing prep I’m there right after Chomsky”54

Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019. The documents cited here do not establish whether any filming of Chomsky took place.

Statements

Chomsky told the Wall Street Journal in 2023, before the House Oversight Committee released the correspondence, that of his relationship with Epstein his “First response is that it is none of your business. Or anyone’s. Second is that I knew him and we met occasionally.”5 He was reported in November 2025 to have acknowledged receiving about $270,000 from an account linked to Epstein in the course of disbursing funds from his first marriage, and to have said that not “one penny” came directly from Epstein.55 That statement addresses the trust and estate matter; no statement from him about the $20,000 Gratitude America payment appears in the sources cited on this page.

A statement issued on his behalf in February 2026 said that he is not able to engage in public discourse, that Epstein “created a manipulative narrative about his case, which Noam, in good faith, believed in,” and that those close to him had not known the “full extent and gravity” of the allegations against Epstein until Epstein was charged in 2019.5 It is not Chomsky’s own statement, and no response from him to the February 2019 press advice, to the letter of support, or to the Bannon correspondence appears in the sources cited on this page.

Coverage

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia, “Noam Chomsky.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Krauss–Chomsky exchange, Mar 30, 2012, forwarded by Krauss to Epstein and Groff Mar 31 and by Groff to Epstein Apr 9. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00416065 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. Epstein to Chomsky, Feb 23, 2019. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02633884 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Gratitude America, Ltd. check no. 309, Mar 2, 2017, $20,000, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01348702 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Kayla Epstein, “Noam Chomsky advised Epstein about ‘horrible’ media coverage, files show,” BBC News, Feb 8, 2026. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9ykjlyv50o ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Groff to Richard Kahn, May 17, 2015, quoting Epstein’s instruction. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02078177 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Chomsky and Epstein, Oct 26–27, 2017. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00671269 ↩ ↩2

  8. Chomsky’s reply forwarded by Epstein to Matthew Hiltzik, Feb 23, 2019. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01032533 ↩ ↩2

  9. Epstein office schedule for Sunday Apr 15, 2012, Cambridge, circulated Apr 2, 2012. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02003040 ↩

  10. Epstein office schedule and follow-up list, Apr 4, 2012. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01873597 p.2. ↩

  11. Krauss to Epstein, Jan 19, 2015, forwarding his exchange with Chomsky, and Epstein’s reply. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01746812 ↩

  12. Krauss to Epstein, Jan 19, 2015, 8:57 pm. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01746787 ↩

  13. Epstein schedule circulated Mar 19, 2015. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00351502 p.2. ↩

  14. Krauss to Epstein, Mar 23, 2015, and replies. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01746645 ↩

  15. Groff to Larry Visoski, May 15, 2015. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02078261 ↩

  16. Richard Kahn to JetSuite guest services, May 20, 2015, reservation #159917, TEB–BED. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02078601 ↩

  17. Groff to Epstein, May 21, 2015, day schedule. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02078532 ↩

  18. Epstein to a correspondent, May 24, 2015. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01747474 ↩

  19. Epstein to Chomsky and reply, Jul 15, 2015. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01747597 ↩

  20. Groff to Ehud Barak’s office and reply, Sept 11–12, 2015. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02072825 ↩

  21. Epstein office schedule, Feb 3, 2016, for Friday Feb 5, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01790143 ↩

  22. Groff and Larry Visoski, Feb 4, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02060901 p.2. ↩

  23. Epstein to Chomsky and reply, Apr 16, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01780406 ↩

  24. Chomsky to Epstein, Apr 29, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01780856 ↩

  25. Chomsky to Epstein, Jul 10, 2016, quoting Epstein’s message of Jul 9. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02356198 ↩

  26. Epstein to a correspondent, Jul 10, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00824070 ↩

  27. Epstein office schedule, Aug 5, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02045353 ↩

  28. Epstein’s own schedule note, Aug 3–4, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02044948 ↩

  29. Epstein’s assistant to Stephen Wolfram’s office, Aug 18, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02045107 ↩

  30. Groff, Aug 30, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02044437 ↩

  31. Epstein’s assistant, Aug 30, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02044673 ↩

  32. Epstein to Richard Kahn, Feb 26, 2017, and Kahn’s reply of Feb 27. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02380242 ↩

  33. Kahn to Epstein, Mar 2, 2017, forwarding Darren Indyke’s draft description of services of Feb 28 and the underlying instructions of Feb 26–28. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00711754 pp.1–2, 4–5. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  34. Kahn to Chomsky, Feb 28, 2017, and reply. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02206967 pp.1–2. ↩

  35. Joscha Bach to Epstein, Sept 6, 2015, and Robert Berwick to Epstein, Sept 5, 2015. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01744605 and https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01744829 ↩

  36. Epstein to Martin Nowak, Aug 17, 2016. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02454805 ↩

  37. Chomsky and Epstein, Jul 6, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01044599 ↩

  38. Chomsky to counsel, copying Richard Kahn, Oct 15, 2018, forwarded by Kahn to Epstein. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02619929 ↩

  39. Chomsky to counsel, Mar 11, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02509638 ↩

  40. Epstein to Lawrence Krauss, Nov 6, 2017. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02577866 ↩

  41. iMessage extraction, Feb–Jun 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01612565 pp.2–5. ↩

  42. Epstein, Dec 29, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01010052 ↩

  43. Chomsky to Epstein, Feb 23, 2019, as sent. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02633330 p.1. ↩

  44. Hiltzik to Epstein and reply, Feb 23, 2019. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01032522 ↩

  45. Undated letter, “To whom it may concern:” over Chomsky’s name and titles. The letter runs two pages; the closing quotation and the signature block are on the second. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_022405 p.1 was read at the image at 9x native on 2026-09-14: the salutation ends in a colon, not a comma. Earlier versions of this page printed a comma in both places it quotes the salutation, and both have been corrected. On the same sheet the letter writes “the Oslo agreements” where the body paraphrases “accords” outside the quotation marks, and the sheet carries no date, no addressee and no covering message. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00804504 ; https://epstein-data.com/HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_022405 (p.1) and https://epstein-data.com/HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_022406 (p.2) ↩ ↩2

  46. iMessage extraction, May 12, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615085 p.2. ↩

  47. iMessage extraction, Sept 8, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615316 p.2. ↩

  48. iMessage extraction, Sept 21, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615358 p.3. ↩

  49. iMessage extraction, Dec 6, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615487 p.1. ↩

  50. iMessage extraction, Dec 28, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615537 p.1. ↩

  51. iMessage extraction, Dec 29, 2018. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615537 p.3. ↩

  52. iMessage extraction, Feb 9, 2019. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615614 p.3. ↩

  53. iMessage extraction, May 3, 2019. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615824 p.4. ↩

  54. iMessage extraction, Jun 23, 2019. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01615957 p.4. ↩

  55. Ramon Antonio Vargas, “Chomsky had deeper ties with Epstein than previously known, documents reveal,” The Guardian, Nov 22, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/22/noam-chomsky-jeffrey-epstein-ties-emails ↩

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