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See the full story · 4 sourcesThis finding emerged as part of a broader probe that also uncovered dozens of allegations spanning decades against nearly 50 other people associated with the institution
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A recent investigation has revealed that two individuals reported sexual misconduct by Jeffrey Epstein, a significant donor, at the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. This finding emerged as part of a broader probe that also uncovered dozens of allegations spanning decades against nearly 50 other people associated with the institution.
Interlochen, known for its summer camp and performing arts school attracting students globally, initiated an investigation in 2024 by hiring a law firm to examine reports of sexual abuse by faculty and staff. The scope of this inquiry was subsequently expanded to include information pertaining to Epstein, the 66-year-old financier who died by suicide in jail in 2019.
Epstein's connection to Interlochen saw his name removed from a lodge after his 2008 conviction for sex offenses in Florida. The building, renamed the Green Lake Lodge, was recently demolished following the U.S. Justice Department's release of millions of pages of documents about him.
The Sanghavi Law Office, leading the investigation, has collected 70 accounts from alumni detailing "physical conduct of a sexual nature" by 47 faculty and staff members affiliated with Interlochen. These allegations span from the 1950s through the 2010s, with the majority occurring before 2000.
“The information gathered during this investigation is, simply, devastating,” the 97-page report says, noting that alumni reported grooming, flirting, sexual touching and sex.
Interlochen said it has provided names of people accused of misconduct to Grand Traverse County authorities in northern Michigan to determine what steps, if any, might be taken. None are currently employed there, and more than a third are dead.
“We are deeply sorry for the harm experienced by members of our community and extend our apologies to those impacted by abuse at Interlochen,” president Trey Davey and board chair Barrett Rollins said in a letter to the community posted online.
“While the vast majority of the incidents described in the investigation took place many decades ago, and reports of abuse at Interlochen have significantly decreased over the past 25 years, the passage of time does not diminish the experiences of our alumni,” they said. “Sexual abuse committed by an adult in a position of power or trust against a student is wrong, then and now.”
Interlochen today “is fundamentally different from the institution described in this report,” Davey and Rollins wrote, with comprehensive safety policies and a changed culture.
Epstein, who played the bassoon, was an Interlochen camper in 1967. He donated more than $400,000 to the school between 1990 and 2003.
Two women told investigators that Epstein engaged in conduct of a sexual nature with them, one of them at the Interlochen lodge that bore his name.
He brushed against her body “over her clothes, in a manner in which he indicated was accidental,” according to the report.
Epstein also paid for her to visit him in New York while she was a student. She said “every time he was ‘handsy’ with her, she would freeze until he would stop,” the report states.
The other woman said she gave Epstein a massage at his home, according to the report, and he may have asked her to remove her top. She never had any further contact with Epstein or his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Outside of the school investigation, at least two Interlochen alumnae made allegations of grooming and abuse against Epstein and Maxwell, according to federal records and media reports. Their identities were not made public.
One testified against Maxwell in 2021 when she was convicted of sex trafficking. It’s unclear whether those women spoke to the law firm hired for the Interlochen investigation.
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