Columbia University axed members of its administration after recently released Epstein files revealed the Ivy League school admitted the child sex trafficker’s girlfriend through “irregular admissions,” according to school officials.
The Upper Manhattan university has “taken action” against two individuals affiliated with its dental school after files released in the DOJ’s tranche of over 3 million Epstein-related documents showed school officials maintained a relationship with and solicited donations from the disgraced financier, according to a statement by the university on Wednesday.
Karyna Shuliak, a native of Belarus who was Epstein’s last known girlfriend, was denied admission into Columbia University’s dental school in February 2012, according to a rejection letter.
Just a few weeks later, documents showed that Epstein had discussed having Shuliak enrolled at the university as a transfer student.
On May 3, 2012, Shuliak received an email confirming her admission into the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine for the fall term, according to a file.
In a May 31, 2012, email between Epstein and Ira Lamster, the dean of the College of Dental Medicine between 2001 and 2012, who left the University voluntarily in 2017, Lamster wrote that Shuliak would be joining the dental school in September, and that her visa would not be a problem because of her “special status.”
Shuliak graduated from the program in 2015, documents showed. She had previously completed four years of dental school in Belarus and immigrated to the US in 2010 without graduating.
Lamster, who was not among those disciplined by Columbia, told ABC News that he was introduced to Epstein in 2012 by a prominent alumnus of the dental school when the dead pedophile was considering a large gift of $5 to10 million to the university.
Around that time, Epstein asked him about “someone who I believed to be in his employ who was a dental student in Belarus,” Lamster wrote, according to the outlet.
He then agreed to refer Shuliak to another faculty member in charge of the dental school’s admissions, ABC reported.
“As at that time we were pursuing a major gift from [Epstein], and it was logical to agree to [his] request. It was made clear to the admissions director, however, that [Shuliak] should be judged on the merits of her application,” Lamster wrote.
After vetting Epstein, the college ultimately rejected his multimillion-dollar donation proposal, Lamster told the outlet.
As Shuliak was to begin studying at the Ivy League, Epstein asked his accountant to send $100,000 to the Columbia School of Public Health, where Lamster had started working. The check was made out to the “Ira Lamster Fund,” and hand-delivered to the former school administrator, according to August 2012 files.
“Thank you for the donation,” Lamster wrote in an email to Epstein on Aug. 17, 2012.
“This support will be a great help in launching my dental public health initiative. My hope is that the ‘Center’ will have a very positive impact by addressing important issues facing the dental profession. I appreciate your friendship and generosity.”
Lamster told ABC that he did not solicit the donation and did not believe that the university would accept the sum.
“Let me emphasize that there was no quid pro quo in regard to admission to CDM [College of Dental Medicine] and the gift, though I recognize now that the optics were not ideal,” Lamster wrote, according to the outlet.
Epstein also donated $50,000 to the dental school in 2014, according to the DOJ files.
“In total, the University is aware of $210,000 in donations from entities related to Epstein,” Columbia University said in Wednesday’s statement
“In 2019, Columbia University became aware of past communications between Jeffrey Epstein and individuals affiliated at the time with the University’s dental school, most of whom are no longer associated with Columbia,” the statement said.
“Material recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice contains additional communications, adding to what was previously known.”
“In short, a student was admitted to the dental school through an irregular process, coinciding with fundraising solicitations by former academic and alumni leadership of the school.”
The university added that the fundraising discussions were undertaken by “the then leadership of the dental school of individuals acting at their behest and not at the direction of the leadership of the medical center or the University.”
“It is important to note that the student in question, who came to the dental school and graduated, has not, to the best of our knowledge, been found responsible for wrongdoing.”
Dr. Thomas Magnani, a former professor, has been removed from his continued affiliations with the school in connection with findings in the files. Dr. Letty Moss-Salentijn will step down from her administrative roles, the school said.
Columbia will donate $105,000 each to the Girls Educational to New York-based nonprofits Girls Educational & Mentoring Servicesand Joyful Heart, to support sexual abuse and human trafficking survivors — essentially refunding Epstein’s contributions.
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